Deus Ex Machina
by Ryshora
Summary: (Formerly Fire, Rain and Rose) In Harry's fifth year, secrets kept since his birth are revealed as DEUS trains him. Malfoy's side is unknown, another Weasley is talked of; and through it all, a cult is growing stronger and more powerful... with one aim...
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Don't own nuffink.

**Chapter 1:  
Of Dreams and the Dark Mark.**   
  
'Dumbledore invoked an ancient magic, to ensure the boy's protection as long as he is in his relation's care. . .'

~ Lord Voldemort, on Harry's protection 

Harry knew where he was immediately. The Forbidden Forest, outside his school, Hogwarts. This was a dream; it had to be, for he was at his Aunt and Uncle's house during the Summer, and he knew why he was dreaming of this place.  
Voldemort .  
It was night-time in this dream place, and the thick foliage prevented any light that would pass through. Harry reached into his pocket - his wand was there .  
"Lumos." he muttered, and the end of the wand lit up, allowing him to see a clearing ahead of him. No-one would see the lighted wand; Harry was not, after all, here, but only his dream self.  
But even dream-selves need to see.  
Sensing the presence in the clearing, Harry stepped towards it, his heart rate quickening.  
And there, in the centre, was his goal. The sight of the Dark Lord made him hesitate, but he continued on.  
Voldemort stood dressed in black robes, his snake-like face nearly obscured. by the hood, which drooped low, covering his eyes.  
On either side, his followers, the Death Eaters, forming a tight circle.  
They too, had their faces hidden by dark robes and hoods, and stood slightly bowed in the company of their Lord. One Death Eater stood behind Voldemort, his hood down so his rat-like face could be seen.  
Peter Pettigrew, shaking madly, stayed behind his master, who calmly said, "The boy was found long ago, Wormtail. I do not see what you point is."  
"We... we have f-found a way in, my Lord," he quivered, "Although he w-was, as you say, found long ago, we now know how to enter. His Key has been found."  
Harry knew they were talking about him- it was a shock to know they had known where he was. He'd assumed that he had a Secret Keeper, to protect the information of where he lived; but now it seemed Dumbledore had used a different spell to protect him - a spell which involved a Key . . .  
He switched his mind back to Voldemort, and was glad he had. "The Key must be joined with the Lock as soon as possible."  
"Y-yes, my Lord. We shall have the boy within two days."  
The Death Eaters around Voldemort started to laugh.  
  
Harry woke up with the pain in his scar. It hurt him badly, spinning his thoughts round and round in his head, but having had the prophetic dreams so often, he knew how to combat the dizzy feeling. He rested his head on the pillow and recollected what the dream had been about, before it could disappear.  
Voldemort and his followers had been in the Forbidden Forest (But that's in the school grounds, Harry thought with a jolt, And no-one can get past the wards of the school. . .), and they had found a key- no, the Key to someone; that someone was _him_. . . and they would join it with a Lock. . . and then. . .  
Then they would have him.  
The pain in his head had subsided now, as he found when he leapt to his feet.  
"Sirius," Harry muttered to himself, grabbing a quill and parchment from his bedside cabinet. He paused for a second to plan a message.

Dear Snuffles, (he finally decided)  
_I'm afraid this isn't a letter to see how you are. Just this night, I had a dream of Voldemort and the Death Eaters in the Forbidden Forest. I know, they shouldn't be able to get in, but I dreamt they were there - whether they really were, I don't know._  
Harry paused, and sped up the pace to get to the point.  
_ Anyway, _ (he wrote) _they said that a Key had been found, which would be put with a lock; and that this meant they would have me within two days.  
Well, I'm not sticking around here. I'll take the Knight Bus to Diagon Alley, as I'll be a lot safer there.  
This wasn't just a nightmare; my scar was hurting when I woke up.  
The problem is, I don't know about the Muggles I'm living with. I don't like them, but I don't want Voldemort to kill them either.  
I'm sure you or Dumbledore will know what to do. Can you send this to him after you're done with it?  
Love, Harry._

He woke up Hedwig, his snowy owl, by tapping lightly on her cage. "Sorry, Hed'," he whispered, "but it's an emergency. Take this to Sirius as fast as possible. I'll be at the Leaky Cauldron if there's a reply. Okay?"  
Hedwig was not accustomed to being woken up in the middle of the night (mainly delivering messages in daytime had made her almost diurnal) but she complied, and pecked his ear in an affectionate way.  
As soon as Hedwig was out the window and out of sight, Harry collected his trunk carrying his school books and equipment (he had finally convinced the Dursleys to let him keep them out of the cupboard, with the casual remark that his Godfather probably wouldn't like it), and grabbed his wand and Firebolt; one of the best racing brooms on the market.  
He stopped for a moment to decide - did he really want to leave the Dursleys with no defence? But shook himself out of it. Against Voldemort or the Death Eaters, the Dursleys would have just as good a defence from a drinking straw; and Dumbledore would relocate the Dursleys somehow as soon as Sirius sent him the letter.  
He listened for his Aunt and Uncle, Petunia and Vernon Dursley, and for his cousin Dudley. They were all asleep, no doubt about it. He could hear Dudley's gigantic snores from in the garden, never mind a few rooms away, and Vernon and Petunia were never up at - he checked his watch - three am.  
He gave a slight smile. In just less than a day he would be fifteen and he was already on Voldemort's 'most wanted' list. He fingered his green, lightning bolt shaped scar restlessly, his other hand clutching his Firebolt.  
The pain had completely gone now, like it was never there. . .  
He snapped to attention, scolding himself for letting his mind wander. _Be careful!_ He reminded himself, _Voldemort could break into your house and kill you, and the last thing you'd ever accomplish would be touching your scar!_ With that thought he took his large trunk in his hands, and balanced the Firebolt on top of it. He knew it was stupid, taking his broomstick when there was a mass-murderer hunting him, but it somehow felt like a friend.  
He made it downstairs and into the street, sticking his wand out into the road.  
A sudden bang nearly knocked him over, but he was ready for it this time;  
"Hello Stan." Harry smiled as the teenage bus conductor stuck his head out of the Knight Bus' door. Harry saw he still hadn't lost his acne.  
Stan Shunpike's eyes opened wide as he saw Harry. "Cor, Nev- 'Arry! I didn't expect to see you again!" He rushed down from the bus and helped Harry put his trunk and Firebolt in.  
"Hang on!" Harry remembered, "I've got something else. Back in a sec."  
He made his way to his bedroom, and collected Hedwig's cage.  
Slipping downstairs he closed the door behind him, and entered the bus.  
Ernie Prang was still the driver, Harry noticed, and now Stan was talking excitedly to him. He turned around as Harry entered.  
"'Ere 'e is!" he said proudly, as though Harry was his prize-winning racehorse, "I _told_ you it was 'Arry, didn't I Ern?"  
Ernie nodded his approval to Harry.  
"Forgot my cage." Harry said, holding the object up. "What were the prices again? I just want to go to Diagon Alley."  
He insisted on paying the eleven sickles for the fare (Ernie and Stan were disappointed that he wouldn't accept a free ride), and settled down for the night in one of the large brass beds.

~ ~ ~

It was five o'clock in the morning before they reached Diagon Alley, as the Knight Bus was exceedingly busy.  
After a farewell to Stan and Ernie, and eventually giving in to the next trip being free. Harry knew his way around Diagon Alley well; during his third year at Hogwarts, he had spent nearly his whole holiday there.  
He found his way to the inn and pub, the Leaky Cauldron easily enough - dragging his chest, his Firebolt and Hedwig's cage to it was quite another matter - and reserved a room for the next two days with some of the gold Galleons and silver Sickles in his chest.  
It was only when he came back downstairs after unpacking his things (and finishing his Potions homework), that he had a rather nice surprise.  
A snowy owl and a large black dog were sitting by stairs to the first floor, the owl perched on one of the wall lights.  
"Hedwig!" Harry gasped, and glanced at the dog. Sirius' Animagus form was unmistakable.  
Tom, owner of the inn glanced over at Harry. "Is that your dog, sir? I recognised the owl, so I thought I'd best not throw the dog out.. Looks a bit intimidating anyway, tell the truth."  
"Oh, yeah. He is mine, thanks." Harry held out his arm and let Hedwig flutter onto it.  
"You can take him to your room but mind he doesn't make a mess." Tom allowed, turning his attention back to pouring a drink for an old witch, who sat half asleep at one of the tables.  
Sirius followed Harry to his room, Hedwig still perched on his shoulder.  
As soon as Harry had closed the door and locked it, 'Snuffles' returned to his true form.  
He had been eating well, Harry noticed. No longer was he the starving, dirty man Harry had known, but clean-shaven, looking more like the man from the wedding pictures.  
Sirius Black took a letter from his robes. "I made a copy of it," he explained, "and sent the original to Dumbledore like you said." He sat next to his Godson on the bed. "I was staying at Lupins', so it reached me quickly. I'm glad you managed to get out as quickly as possible after that dream."  
Harry frowned. "What do you mean, 'managed to'? Has Professor Dumbledore got the letter?"  
"I don't know about Dumbledore yet. Lupin sent an owl to him as soon as we'd read the letter." He sighed and rubbed his head. "I'm guessing you haven't seen the news?"  
Harry looked at him blankly. "It doesn't usually arrive here until seven or so. But if it's so important I'm sure I'll hear about it from Tom."  
Hedwig gave a low hoot, and Sirius shook his head. "I think you'd better hear about it now." he said, reaching into his robes and pulling out another piece of paper.  
Harry took it from him - it was a clipping from the Daily Prophet, the Wizarding newspaper - and started to read.

****

THE BOY WHO LIVED; AGAIN!  
At ten to four this morning, Death Eaters attacked the home of Harry Potter, the boy who caused He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's downfall.  
Thankfully, (the reason is not known why) Mr. Potter had was not in the house at the time.  
The Minister Of Magic comments "We do not know how the Death Eaters found Harry; we believed he was well protected." When questioned whether this was evidence of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's rising, the Minister declined to comment.  
Although Harry Potter is said to have escaped unharmed - one early-rising Muggle, who later had his memory modified, stated he saw him leave the residence an hour earlier - Harry Potter's Aunt, Uncle and cousin were not as lucky.  
Although Aurors appeared in time to save Mrs Petunia Dursley (38) and Dudley Dursley (17), Harry's uncle Vernon Dursley (41), was killed by Death Eaters as he tried in vain to protect his family.  
The remaining Dursleys (Muggles) were taken to St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies, in case of traumatisation.  
An Order of Purity member, Mrs Arabella Figg, (72) who lived at thirty-three Privet Drive was first on scene, and it is due to her intervention that Muggle civilians were not killed.

Below was a picture of number four, Privet Drive in flames. As magical pictures do, it was moving - the flames were not so much licking the house as roaring round it, and nearly half had been consumed by it.  
Although there was no sound to the small picture, Harry could imagine the screams of his 'family' as the Death Eaters came.  
He slowly folded the cutting and handed it back to Sirius, who was watching him carefully.  
"He's dead." Harry said, knowing the full impact of this could sink in at any second. "He was Hell to live with, and I wouldn't have minded getting revenge - but dead? By Death Eaters?" He looked at the Animagus for confirmation, and was shocked to see that he got it.  
"It was Avada Kedavra. Arabella told me." He sighed again. "Your Aunt and cousin are alright though. Just some major bruising and a few cuts. I think your Uncle delayed them enough for the Aurors to get there." He put the clipping away. "Are you alright?"  
"Yes." lied Harry. He paused. "I wish I was there." he said softly. "I could have done something. I could have saved Uncle Vernon. Or at least killed whichever one did it."  
Sirius put his hand on Harry's shoulder. "Don't be stupid. If you'd been there, you'd've been the first the die. At least you got out in time, and you're safe. I suppose Voldemort felt like going ahead immediately rather than waiting a day or so."  
Harry stared at the wall. Suddenly, he looked at his Godfather. "Did they get any of the Death Eaters?" he asked.  
"I don't know. You saw how recent this was - the Daily Prophet must have working all this morning to get it out in today's paper; they only just managed to get this information. They'll probably have more knowledge about it once they've done some research, so I'll be getting the paper tomorrow. Are you sure you're okay?"  
Harry put his head in his hands. "I don't know. I think I'll be alright - it's not as though we were best friends or anything."  
Sirius gave a small, sad smile. "Yeah. Guess not. Anyway, we need to talk about what's going to happen now. Dumbledore will be checking up on exactly how the Death Eaters found you, if I know him, so he won't be here for a while yet. I don't even know whether he's got the letter." He stood up and patted Hedwig absentmindedly. "You obviously can't go back to your house - it's nearly completely destroyed, and the Ministry's checking all the wards, and other simple protections. There were a lot of them put on your home.  
"I'm not sure about you going to Hogwarts either. Your dream had Voldemort inside the Forest. That may not be a part of school, but it's within the grounds, which means that until new, stronger spells and wards are put up, you can't go back, and that will take a couple of months.  
"Also, Lupin and I aren't happy with you staying here. All it would take is one Death Eater to come up at night and you'd be finished. There's only a few anti-burglar charms on this place, nothing powerful."  
"What about Ron? His dad works at the Ministry." Harry volunteered.  
Sirius shook his head. "No offence to him, but I don't think a few wizards are going to be much use if Voldemort decides to pay a social call himself. Bill and Charlie wouldn't be there, Ron and Percy probably wouldn't be much use -"  
"Fred and George have left home and started their own joke shop, eagerly wishing they weren't going to be at school this year.." Harry added.  
Sirius looked surprised. "How'd you know that?"  
"It's _only _been their life-long ambition." he replied, rolling his eyes.  
Sirius smiled. "Well, anyway, they're not there, and Mrs Weasley wouldn't be much use. Plus, her husband would only be limited protection.  
"Hermione's family are Muggles - not an ounce of safety there; so I think it would be a lot safer if you stayed with me and Lupin."  
Harry nearly choked. "Stay with you!"  
"Certainly. Until school starts, or the wards at Hogwarts are increased, whatever's sooner. Lupin and I agree that you'd get more protection there. Although, if you don't want to, I understand - " he added.  
"What!?" Harry interrupted, "Of _course_ I want to stay with you and Professor Lupin. When can I move in?" he rushed.  
Sirius let out a real grin this time. "Great! I'll send an owl to Lupin." He glanced at the window. "But talking of owls. . ."  
Harry looked in the direction of his gaze. Out side the window, perched on a street light, two owls waited looking in.  
They couldn't see Sirius' face, so he moved out of sight and changed into a large black dog.  
Harry opened the window, and the Tawny owl, and Hawk owl flew in and perched on the bed, looking nervously at the great canine.  
Harry untied the letter from the first owl - it bore the Hogwarts seal, so it was obviously his list of supplies for the next year.  
The Hogwarts owl flew silently out.  
Just as he was about to take the letter and package off another owl (who Harry recognised as Percy's owl, Hermes), a fluttering caused him to look up.  
An ink black raven swooped low into the room and fixed a beady eye on Harry. "Ow!" Harry clapped a hand to his scar, as a jolt of pain shot through it, and was gone as quickly as it came.  
Sirius turned his shaggy head towards Harry, and then to the raven, growling.  
The bird was larger than most other ravens, Harry guessed - ravens were a usual sight down Privet Drive, in Surrey, so he couldn't make an accurate statement regarding it - but there was something about it that didn't _belong - _not least the fact that its beak was silver coloured. Just looking at it gave Harry an uneasy feeling.  
It was looking through him, not at.  
Sirius growled again, and paced towards it. Hermes looked ready to fly away in fright.  
The raven held out a leg. Harry realised, with shock, that it was carrying a letter. The dog paused and looked at Harry as if questioning him.  
Taking a chance, Harry undid the letter from the bird's leg (Hermes didn't look too happy about being forgotten) and read aloud;  
  
_ Dear Harry,  
This is Sterling, an Aldor Raven. Quite a rare species - they have magical powers, unlike other raven types.  
I have given her to you for your safety. I know Snuffles will be with you by now, but Sterling can protect you just as well. She's a lot more powerful than she looks. Keep her close, all the time.  
Dumbledore  
  
_ A list of what Harry would need for the next year of Hogwarts followed._  
_Sirius - or Snuffles- relaxed, and Harry breathed a sigh.  
"That's that then, Snuffles. It's another guardian." Harry said, stroking Sterling's feathers. It still gave him a feeling of uneasiness, but he trusted Dumbledore's judgment..  
Sirius gave a reassuring bark.  
"Yeah, I know." Harry sighed, and went to take Ron's message from Hermes.  
Sterling preened herself.  
  
_ Harry! _ (the letter read)  
_ PLEASE, answer this! We know you're safe (Mum got the kitchen clock redone whilst we were at school with you on, and since it didn't say you were dead or in danger, we're guessing you're okay.) but we have NO IDEA where you are!! You have to answer this as soon as you get it, okay?  
In case you didn't know, you're home's been attacked. We don't know what's happened - we only know because Dad was called out early this morning. Nearly everyone in the Ministry's been pulled off regular jobs to check all the wards, how the Death Eater's got in, whether Voldemort was really was behind it, and all. Mum's going mad with worry.  
I hope no-one's hurt,  
Ron.  
Write back NOW!  
  
_ Harry re-read the letter. It was written in a hurry: the ink was smudged badly and Ron sounded like he'd nearly forgotten how to use full-stops.  
Harry scribbled a reply, telling that his Uncle had been killed, where he was, and asking whether Dumbledore had gone to the house. When he had finished, he sent it on Hermes.  
Sirius changed back once Hermes had gone and moved closer to Sterling who gave him a disdainful look.  
"She's not like any normal bird," Sirius confirmed, "She's certainly magical. I don't know how, though." He looked closer at Sterling. "She's got something on her head." he told his Godson. "A gem or something - a little silver one."  
The raven gave a small caw as Harry leaned in to look closer. A small silver jewel, the size of a pea was placed in the bird's forehead, which glittered lightly.  
"Do you know what it is?" Harry asked Sirius, who shook his head and petted the bird lightly. "It might be some kind of a magical amplifier. There are some objects that can be worn, or put inside you, that makes your magic stronger. They're pretty rare though, and aren't used much. Most wizards see them as dishonourable - you might be better than your opponent in a duel, but because he's got an Amplifier, he wins. Most regard it as cheating. I wouldn't be surprised if Voldemort had one. It's about the only way he 'd be able to win anything, the slime bag."  
Harry laughed, but didn't voice his doubts about the jewel.  
He suddenly realised that it wasn't the bird that was making him uneasy - it was the jewel. And hadn't he been looking at the bird's head when the pain ran through his scar?  
He chased the thoughts from his mind. If Dumbledore thought he would be safer with it, then it couldn't possibly be dangerous to him.

~ ~ ~ 

At twelve o'clock they went downstairs. Sirius was parading as the dog Snuffles and Sterling had insisted on coming, sitting on Harry's shoulder. Harry guessed this was what Dumbledore told her to do.  
"Snuffles," he said suddenly, "I have a bone to pick with you." The dog looked at him questioningly. Harry raised an eyebrow, "Why didn't you tell me Mrs Figg was a witch? And what's the Order of Purity? You're going to tell me that as soon as you turn back, alright?"  
Harry could have sworn Sirius' dog-face turned into a grin. 

~ ~ ~ 

Harry's first stop in Diagon Alley was to Gladrags Wizard-wear (he found it had a larger range than Madame Malkins). From there it was Eeylops Owl Emporium for Hedwig's food, and then to Flourish and Blotts for his books; Harry was not sure whether he was happy or sad that Defence Against The Dark Arts was still on the subject list, due to his unfortunate relations with three quarters of the previous staff (as they had a new one every year); i.e., mostly they tried to kill him or erase his memory (something he wasn't too pleased about).  
Thankfully, wizards were used to pet birds so Sterling didn't gain too many funny looks - although a few of the more superstitious people dropped their shopping when they saw Sirius, whose form looked like the Grim, a warning of impending death.  
It was only when he went to Quality Quidditch Supplies ('Snuffles' couldn't come in) for new elbow pads that he found himself in love.  
There, the owner of the store, Eric Vander, was placing in the window, a Firebolt.  
That wasn't.  
It's handle was not ash, like Harry's broom, but a beautiful mahogany. It was graceful, beautifully streamlined - Harry may not have been a broom expert, but he knew that this broom was the closest to perfection he had ever seen.  
A sign was placed beside it, but Harry preferred to get his answers straight from the source.  
"Mr Vander," he queried, moving towards the proprietor as he tried to control his racing heartbeat, "What is that broom?"  
The man looked in the direction of Harry's gaze. "That's the Lightning Bolt. The Firebolt was just a prototype of it.  
"It goes a lot faster - from a still start to two hundred and eighty miles an hour in six seconds. Will you be buying one, Mr Potter? Just eight hundred Galleons, and you'll never lose a game."  
Harry was sorely tempted - he knew he had enough money - but he went with his common sense, which told him he still had two years left at Hogwarts after this year. "No thanks." he said, "It's a possibility," he added to be polite, "but I'd like to think about it a little more."  
Eric smiled. "Think quickly. There are only two thousand and two made, and there'll never be any more. Plus, each of them comes with it's own name, as well as number."  
Harry frowned at the idea of calling a broomstick Jane or Maurice, but Eric saw his puzzlement and explained. "They have descriptive names; nick-names of a sort. The one I just put in the window is number seven hundred and seventy nine, Wild Storm - don't ask who thinks these names up." He looked at Harry. "There's only one more here, just out back - four hundred and sixteen, Rapid Fury. You'd better decide whether you want one as fast as possible." He excused himself to deal with a customer, who was eagerly looking at the Lightning Bolt every few seconds; Harry recognised him as Oliver Wood, the previous Quidditch captain of Harry's House (Gryffindor), although he had left Hogwarts two years before.  
The conversation between Oliver and Eric was short - Oliver, it seemed had only entered to check out the Lightning Bolt's price, nothing more. After Harry had bought his pads, he hurried over to Oliver, who had stopped to look at some broom polishes. "Recognise me?" Harry grinned, and laughed as Oliver gaped. "Harry? You're not a midget anymore!"  
This shut Harry up. "Hey!"  
"I said you're NOT, didn't I?" Oliver argued. "So, who's the new captain? Oh, yeah, there wasn't any Quidditch last year, with the Triwiz-" He cut himself off. "Oh, God Harry, I'm sorry: I don't know why I said that -"  
"It's alright." Harry said, "Just please don't mention it." He changed the subject, "How's the job going?"  
"Great!" Oliver replied, perking up. "I'm not a reserve anymore - the keeper of Puddlemere United retired last year, so I got his place. Have you seen that Lightning Bolt, Harry? They say it's even better than the Firebolt - there was a review in 'Which Broom?', but it's expensive. Nearly a thousand Galleons, Quality Quidditch Supplies was lucky to get hold of two. . ."  
Their conversation continued in this vein for some time, and then switched to the subject of Hogwarts (Oliver proudly announcing his younger sister would be starting this year), until Eric told them that if they weren't at least going to make a pretence of looking at the stock, could they please leave.  
Harry and Oliver complied, Sirius meeting up with Harry outside the shop.  
"Hold on," Harry noticed, causing Sirius to stop, "I'm out of money. We'll have to stop by Gringotts." Sirius agreed (Harry realised how funny it was to see a dog nodding it's head), and went to the bank.  
No sooner had they entered, than someone leapt upon Harry, flinging their arms around him.  
"Oh, Harry!" sobbed the unknown assailant, "I thought you were dead, I thought you were taken, I thought you were beaten to a bloody pulp and tortured to an inch of your life, I-"  
Harry rolled his eyes. Hermione did tend to go on. "Herm, I'm fine." he said, detaching her from himself. "Look! I even have my head."  
Sirius gave a small bark, and Sterling pecked Hermione's hand. She pulled her hands away and stared at the bird. "Harry, have you got a _raven_?"  
"However did you get that idea, Hermione?" Harry laughed.  
The witch frowned. "Why didn't you write to me? I was just at home, and my Daily Prophet arrived. And on the front page they said - they said. . ."  
Harry smiled ruefully. "It's all right, I know. Snuffles is guarding me for a while, as is Sterling." he said, touching the bird that sat upon his shoulder.  
Realising they were getting a few funny looks from the goblins that ran the bank, and other wizards, Harry and Hermione collected some money and left together. Sterling seemed to have taken an immediate liking to the bushy-haired girl.  
"My mum and dad are looking 'round the shops," Hermione explained. "When I thought you were - you know, I needed to be around wizards." She shrugged miserably, "It just seemed so wrong that no one knew who you were, so I wanted to be with people who knew what you did."  
Harry nodded slightly. "What does everyone think?"  
"Well, the Muggles think there was an arson attack on your house, but you had gone out for a midnight stroll or something. You can't hide a house suddenly bursting into flames from Muggles, unless you're forewarned.  
"Everyone in Diagon Alley knows you're alive; after all, they've seen you. I'm guessing they're not saying anything, because of your uncle."  
Harry gave a visible wince. "I wondered why no-one said anything. What about Ron?"  
"Well, I only got the Daily Prophet this morning. I haven't had time to write, but I'm guessing he thinks you're dead, unless his dad's found out you're not." Hermione gave a sigh.  
"I wrote to him to tell him I was okay actually, so that shouldn't be a problem. Herm', do you know what the Order of Purity is?"  
Snuffles looked up suddenly at Harry in surprise. Harry looked back. "I'm not going to wait forever. I just want to see whether she knows."  
"_She_ has a name. And yes, I know a little." Hermione smiled. "I suppose you want to know because of that part in the news?"  
"Yeah, actually. If you feel like telling me what they are any time, let me know will you?"  
"There's no need to be uppity." Hermione paused a moment, and Sterling watched her intently. Sirius seemed happy just to let her go on.  
"The Order of Purity works alongside the Order of the Phoenix." 


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: See last chapter!  
  


**Chapter 2:  
Of Owls and Orders. **

**  
**  
Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.

~ William Shakespeare

"The Order of Purity works alongside the Order of the Phoenix."  
"And that's meant to mean something to me, because. . . ?"  
"Oh Harry, really." Hermione snapped. "Look, I'll explain. Dark wizards did, of course, exist before Voldemort - but none could match him in power, even Grindelwald wasn't half as powerful.  
"Well, about eight hundred years ago, a wizard named Erowin started a society, known as the Order of Purity. It was made to combat Dark wizards, and all who associated with them. It wasn't a Ministry run project; the members were witches and wizards who had had enough of the lenient laws against Dark magic.  
"Eventually so many people were joining, they had to make special rules. For a start, you had to be pretty powerful to be a member, which cut the membership down a lot. Then you had to prove yourself to be brave, and show you weren't just a security risk." she paused again. "The amount of people was still pretty high though. It was just meant to be a small, specialised group - it was too easy for Dark wizards to infiltrate if got out of hand. So an inner section was founded, called the Order of the Phoenix - Erowin had a Phoenix, who he called his 'inner strength', so the Order of the Phoenix was the Order of Purity's inner strength. The ten strongest witches and wizards were allowed in; they're sort of like a council over the Order of Purity. When one of them is dying, or wants to retire, they select someone to take their place.  
"Each of the Order of the Phoenix - nicknamed the Firebirds, so that it isn't a mouthful - had a special bird. They might have a Phoenix, like the title, or some other rare and powerful bird. It's like a tradition." Hermione smiled slightly. "The Orders are still around today. The Order of Purity still has the old rules; proving yourself, and being powerful and all, so people can apply if they want, but the Firebirds keep their identities a secret. Of course, it's pretty obvious that Dumbledore's one, but he hasn't ever admitted it."  
Harry stayed in silence for a moment, then turned to Sirius. "Is that right?"  
The dog nodded, and Sterling, still perched on Harry's shoulder, gave a small caw.  
"Harry," said Hermione suddenly, "Is that an Aldor raven? Because I've read about them in some Irish Wizard legends, and I've always wanted to see one. It's just that it looks exactly how the book describes it."  
Harry confirmed this, Sterling looking pleased to be appreciated. They walked back to the Leaky Cauldron together. "I'll be staying with Professor Lupin and Si- Snuffles for the rest of the holidays. I'll probably be leaving tomorrow."  
Hermione grinned. "Don't try to weasel me into giving you your present early; it'll be delivered tomorrow morning like every year."  
Harry gaped. "That's not what I was-"  
"I know, but I couldn't resist. You'll like your present, anyway. I think you'll find it very useful in Divination."  
Harry stared suspiciously at her. "If it's a crystal ball, or some tea leaves. . ." he began in a threatening tone.  
Hermione assured him it wasn't, and they stopped at the Leaky Cauldron.  
It was late evening now, and Harry knew he had to have a rest before tomorrow - Sirius would be taking Harry to Lupin's house.  
It turned out that Hermione had a room there as well, so she returned to it and awaited her parents.  
As Hedwig greeted Sterling (the two birds seemed to have struck up a close friendship), Sirius transformed back into a man.  
"Feel like explaining about Mrs Figg, now?" Harry yawned, flopping onto the cool, clean bed.  
The man smiled toothily. "Mrs Figg is, as you now know, a witch. She was put close to you for protection."  
"She wanted me to protect her? How touching."  
"Very funny. Dumbledore thought you could do with a lot more protection than the wards and the Key Spell." He gave a small yawn. "You'd better get some rest. I'll be taking you to Remus tomorrow.  
"Yeah," said Harry, nearly yawning himself, "I'll try to get some sl. . ." And with that, he was lost to the world.

~ ~ ~

_ "Master," the cowering man squeaked, "The deed is done."  
"Have you brought the Potter boy?" The figure hissed, it's back to the man.  
It stood facing the window of the darkened room, watching the outside.  
The man gave a little squeak and a half bow. "My - my Lord! The boy was. . . not there, my lord. He had fled earlier. . . and the Aurors. . . they came too quickly. We - I - we did everything, master, everything we could. . ." Silence. The figure slowly turned around to face the whimpering excuse for a man.  
"You did not capture him?" the voice seethed, and Harry saw the face of Lord Voldemort contort with anger. "He fled? How can he have fled? He knew nothing of what we were planning! Nothing! We must have spies in our midst - that, or a foolish Death Eater let information slip. . ."  
The man looked terrified, his face and hands white. "S - surely not, master."  
"Don't say it like it's so hard to believe, Wormtail I am fully aware that there are people who. . . are less than fond of me." He seemed amused. "Still, the boy cannot run forever." More silence.  
"Or perhaps," he added slowly, turning his head towards Harry's dream gaze, "just perhaps, the spy is not within us, but around us." He looked straight at the spot where Harry's dream self was standing; and Harry realised with a jolt that he wasn't looking at an empty space - **he was looking at him**_. . .  
_"Mr __Potter," said the Lord, "How nice of you to join us ."_

~ ~ ~

Harry woke up. The pain in his scar was excruciating - his head was numb and his mouth was open in a silent scream. His hands were balled tightly into fists, as he shook wildly.  
Sirius slept peacefully, but Sterling was awake and watching him. She flew over, and, looking at his scar, gave a small squawk.  
Her silver jewel glowed, and the pain in Harry's head broke suddenly to a halt.  
_Sterling, _he thought, not trusting his speech to come out clearly. Reaching a hand out gingerly, he gently stroked the back of the raven's head, his shaking lessoning to a halt. Sterling watched him impassively, and crooked her head.  
Harry shook his head clear. "Thanks Sterl. I don't know what you did, but it definitely helped." He glanced at the slumbering Sirius, and Hedwig, who had woken up and staring at them curiously. "I'll tell him tomorrow." Harry whispered to Sterling, "It's not like Voldemort knows where I am, anyway."  
He continued stroking the bird; it was strangely reassuring to feel the silky feathers under his fingers.  
Now there was no pain in his scar, no twinge, no headache. It had all faded, and Harry was finally able to sleep peacefully. When he awoke, the dream was forgotten.

~ ~ ~

Morning in Diagon Alley was quiet. Not silent, but nowhere near as loud as the hustle and bustle of the afternoons and evenings; many shops were still closed, and street traders were few and far between. Only a few customers were out, obviously hoping to avoid the rush, and succeeding.  
When Harry awoke, the first thing he noticed was that it was bright - unusually so, for the time of year. He reached for his glasses on the bedside cabinet and put them on, realising Sirius was already up and ready.  
Sterling was back by Hedwig, and a host of presents and letters lay piled on the other, empty bed.  
Sirius looked over as Harry woke up and wished him good morning and a happy birthday. "Looks like you have a host of well wishers and friends." he said, giving a nod to the letters and gifts. "I've checked all of them for dark spells, and they're all fine. If you want to open them now, you'd better hurry. We're leaving in an hour."  
"Thanks Sirius." Harry said, already up and heading to the bathroom for a quick shower.  
When he came out ten minutes later, Sirius was gone. A note explained he had gone out in his dog form to see Hermione and talk with her over an unnamed something. Harry pondered over this for a while, and gave up, turning his attentions to the pile of cards and parcels that were begging to be opened.  
He took the letters first and quickly found Ron's letter, by the untidy writing on the envelope.  
  
_Harry!  
Thank God you're okay; Mum and Dad were going nuts until your owl arrived, and Ginny locked herself in her room and refused to come out. Percy wasn't very helpful.  
You may have noticed it was Hermes who delivered this letter  
_(Harry of course hadn't, as Sirius had taken the presents sometime at night)_  
and I have something to announce; Errol passed on to the Great Aviary in the Sky last week. Ginny's been sniffling at every moment, I swear anything will make her burst into tears. Still, he was really old and it was painless.  
I'm sorry about your uncle - he wasn't exactly the nicest person on Earth, but he didn't deserve that.  
In response to your question, yes, Dumbledore came! I think it was to check over the wards on your house and see how they were breached. He didn't seem too worried about you, I think he knew somehow that you were alright.  
So, a not very happy birthday, but it can only get better, right?  
Hope you like the present, it took me AGES to find.  
See you on the Hogwarts Express!  
Ron.  
PS: Has Hermione written to you? I wonder whether she spent the Summer with 'Dear Vicky'.   
PPS: Mum and Dad say 'Hi', and Fred and George say 'Congratulations! Look out for our letter!' What do you three know that I don't?  
PPS: Talking about Fred and George, you may not have heard, but they've opened their joke shop! Unbelievable, I didn't think they had enough. And they're not even out of school!  
  
_Slightly puzzled, Harry searched through the small heap of letters. He found the twin's letter quickly enough - it was a business like envelope, with a return address to 'Gred and Forge' of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes Ltd.  
Opening it, he read quickly;  
  
_Oh Joy!  
Congratulations, our dear friend Harry, of being given the title 'anonymous co-owner of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes'!  
As a thank you for the generous donation that got us on our feet, you are hereby entitled to 20% of all profits! (We tried to make it 33% but the damn taxes got us, sorry mate!)  
Along with our other good friend Mr. Bagman being caught, and ordered by the courts to pay all his gambling debts, we now have opened a shop in Hogsmeade, and in light of its success are planning to branch out into Diagon Alley. No longer will you walk down its dark and dreary streets with no merriment! No longer will you bask in  
_There was an ink stain, and a few splodges, as if a scuffle over the quill had broken out. The next handwriting was slightly different.  
_Well, that's the last time I let George write a letter. Anyway, congratulations business associate!  
Hope you like the gifts, I suggest you try a few on Malfoy. Your money from the profits will be deposited straight to your bank account once a month, starting next week.  
Happy Birthday,  
Gred and Forge,  
Weasley's Wizard Wheezes Ltd.  
Hogsmeade.  
  
_Harry stared at the letter in surprise. Him? A co-owner of a successful business? Knowing that 'Gred and Forge' would point blank refuse to take this title and money back (though he had no need of it anyway) he accepted these facts, and wondered who people would guess the anonymous co-owner to be. The gifts, he guessed, would be some prank food and wands, which would most likely leave the user a good two feet smaller and talking gibberish. He smiled at the thought of his rival, Draco Malfoy in this state.  
There were some anxious letters from others in his school that he opened next, asking him is he was alright, and whether the Daily Prophet was correct in its information. These came from various people - the Creevey brothers, a distraught letter from Dobby, a house elf, Dean Thomas, Neville Longbottom, and practically the whole of Gryffindor house.  
Knowing he didn't have much time, Harry reminded himself to write letters to them later, and opened the remaining few letters. There was one from Hagrid, the school gamekeeper and Harry's friend - Hagrid knew Harry was fine, which Harry was glad of; he didn't want Hagrid to worry.  
The second from last was the regular Hogwarts letter, containing a list of equipment needed. Harry was interested to note that pupils were to receive all manner of new optional defence lessons 'due to recent circumstances' as the letter put it, including a duelling club, wand-less lessons such as karate, and a series of lessons on sending and blocking and creating major hexes and curses.  
Harry was thankful that Dumbledore had sent him the list of equipment already - he certainly didn't have time to be running off and buying them at the last minute.  
The final letter was also from Hogwarts. He opened it quickly, and read through. Then he read through again to make sure he had understood it correctly.  
  
_Dear Mr. Potter,  
It is my duty to inform you that you have been selected as one of the two Gryffindor prefects for this year.  
It is my hope that you will perform this job admirably, in regard to your family. I am sure you are aware your parents were both prefects in their fifth year.  
Please touch your wand to this paper and say 'Insignidom' to receive your badge.  
Yours Sincerely,  
Professor McGonagall  
Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts  
  
_Harry quickly decided that Dumbledore must be losing it in his old age. Harry Potter, the boy who sneaked off every other night to read restricted books and insult Malfoy in the corridors? Obviously the school had some very strange idea about what merits good, rule abiding behaviour.  
Still. . .  
"Insignidom." he said, tapping the parchment, and a rectangular red badge with gold writing 'Prefect' appeared by the letter.  
Feeling pleased and slightly shocked, Harry put it on his cabinet and, realising he hadn't finished the letter, unfolded it fully.

_ Prefects (Not including those in year 6)  
Gryffindor Hufflepuff  
- Hermione Granger - Susan Bones  
- Harry Potter - Justin Finch-Fletchley  
  
Slytherin Ravenclaw  
- Pansy Parkinson - Mandy Brocklehurst  
- Draco Malfoy - Terry Boot _  
  
_Head Girl and Boy  
Marissa Trysten  
Guy Zhodon_

Delight turned to shock as he saw the Slytherin list. Draco? That slime? Still, it was just as sensible to make Malfoy a prefect as it was to make himself, so he wasn't going to complain.  
Well, not much anyway.  
Hermione was a prefect too. This wasn't surprising - she was the brainiest student in the year, and was completely rule obsessed. Harry smiled slightly at this thought.  
Checking his watch, he saw he still had a good half hour to go, so he made a start on his presents.  
Opening Hermione's he saw why she thought it would be useful in divination. A bizarre black box, with patterns of the night sky on it, Harry was glad of the instruction manual that came with it.  
It turned out to be a 'Future Finder'; it read palms and gave meanings of the different lines; it also performed tarot readings, and various other acts, such as shooting out the positions of various planets and what they meant on pieces of parchment when asked.  
Harry silently thanked Hermione - if he had to spend another three days trying to work out an astronomy chart, he'd kill someone.  
Sirius' gift was a guide to 'Animagus Transformations'. Harry wondered whether he was hinting at something, and, reading the back, found it not to be an informative book, but a guide to becoming an Animagus, and help on deciding what animal to choose.  
Placing it to one side for the moment, he continued with the other presents.  
The next one he opened was from Fred and George. He had guessed right - it was a large box, containing samples of around thirty different types of sweets, and various fake wands, glasses, inks and quills. It was stuffed full - it must have taken six owls to carry, and Harry was surprised it fit through the window. The 'WWW' logo was stamped on each product's packaging.  
A small package was from Ginny; a Phoenix feather quill and mood-changing ink.  
Percy had sent 'Preparing for your O.W.Ls: Get ready for a year of Stress, Strain and Studying', which made Harry slightly nervous, and a brand new copy of 'Prefects Who Gained Power', which made Harry suspicious whether it was a coincidence, or if Percy had somehow found out.  
Lupin's gift was next - a small amulet which would protect against simple hexes and jinxes.  
The next parcel was from Hagrid, which contained a set of magical figurines. A dragon, a unicorn, a hippogriff and a manticore stared up at him, and roared, stamped their hooves or flapped impatiently. They looked amazingly realistic.  
Ron's was a Portable Wizarding Wireless, like a miniature Muggle radio. Harry was glad to see that it ran on magical energy- he didn't have any batteries, and electrical appliances wouldn't work at Hogwarts.  
Looking back down, he saw there was a letter that he had not opened, hidden beneath the parcels.  
Slitting the envelope open, he read the letter.

_Dear Mr Potter,  
You are cordially invited to the Society of the Vocarine, to receive your Gift.  
Please come to 'Vocare Room' via Floo powder at ten o'clock, Tuesday the thirteenth of September, night.  
Yours sincerely,  
The owner of the Vocare Room._

Gift? Vocare Room?  
Harry sighed deeply. This was turning out to be a very weird year, and he hadn't even started Hogwarts yet.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: *Sigh*. Do I have to write another one of these? Darn. Well, just look at the last chapter. Same disclaimer applies.

**Chapter 3:  
Of Reunions and Returns. ** **  
**  
The happier the time, the faster it goes.  
~ Pliny the Younger

Noticing the time, Harry managed to rush getting dressed and packing the rest of his property that he hadn't rammed into his trunk before.  
As he finally managed to close the bulging chest, he swore to himself that he'd have a Never-fill charm on it by the start of term.  
He managed to lug it down the stairs, Hedwig's cage balanced on top whilst the two birds flew behind, said goodbye to Tom and went into the back room, where fireplace for travelling was.  
Sirius in his dog form was sitting by it, looking impatient, then amused as Harry entered.  
"Yeah, really funny." muttered Harry, as he tried to get a good grip on his Firebolt and stop the birdcage slipping off at the same time.  
Sirius returned to his original form, trying not to laugh at the heavy trunk, and took the cage and Firebolt in his arms.  
The fire was already glowing the emerald green that meant it was ready for transport.  
"You first." Sirius motioned, and Harry stepped forward into the fire. "Remus Lupin's house." he said, glad the fire was not like the Weasley's, who seemed to collect the soot specifically to choke him. He shut his eyes tightly, as a whirling, rushing sensation enveloped him - he was rocketing forwards, deafened by the roaring in his ears. After half a minute, the sound subsided and Harry opened his eyes, blinking owlishly.  
"Harry!" smiled Remus Lupin, moving to take his trunk. "Welcome to Moon Cottage!"

~ ~ ~

Although Harry usually looked forward to going to Hogwarts, he found that it was just as hard to leave Remus Lupin's 'cottage' as the Weasley's.  
With letters from friends arriving nearly every day, Sirius and Lupin, Hedwig allowed out, Sterling sticking by him almost every minute and sore interesting lessons from Lupin about curses, hexes and Dark creatures, the holidays were flying by a rate that Harry had never experienced.  
In the comfort and security of the small manor (Harry couldn't see why it was called Moon _Cottage_), Sirius stayed as a Human, which meant quite a few one-on-one Quidditch matches.  
When September the tenth came, after Harry had finished packing his things for school the next day, the Daily Prophet arrived - as normal - but with very unexpected contents.  
It was at breakfast that the owl flew in through the window and alighted on one of the chairs after depositing the newspaper. Harry was the only one down at the moment, so he paid the regular five knuts and opened the paper, starting to read.  
That was when the envelope fell out.  
The boy was embarrassed to realise he was standing and staring at it like a moron. Picking it up, he looked at the front

_Congratulations, lucky buyer of the one thousand, two hundredth 10/9 Daily Prophet published!_

Frowning, Harry opened the envelope and pulled out a brilliant white letter, written with what looked like Muggle ink.

_Dear Sir or Madam,  
As on the front of the envelope, you will know that the Daily Prophet you have received is the 1200th published. Every hundredth Daily Prophet of today that is bought, will contain a letter such as you are reading now.  
For those who do not have owls, this letter can be sent off, with the questions below filled in, to:  
The Daily Prophet HQ,  
(Building 116)  
Diagon Alley  
London  
Those with the questions answered correctly shall be entered in a free prize draw to win the latest racing broom, the Lightning Bolt.  
As sponsors of Quick-In-Quidditch Ltd, we are proud to have three state-of-the-art Lightning Bolts, and ten runner up prizes, including yearly subscriptions to 'Quidditch World' and 'Which Broom?'.  
Anyone of any age may enter, although closing date is the first of December.  
Prize winners will be drawn on the tenth.  
Please note that only those who have received this letter and paid the post-owl may enter - others gaining help from family and friends shall be disqualified. Please do not cheat - not only can we find out with a simple spell, these brooms are 'The best in the business.' (Quidditch Quarterly)  
and should be won honestly.  
Winners shall be notified and sent their prizes as soon as they are drawn, and their names shall be posted in the next Daily Prophet after the drawing of winners.  
Brooms are: Soyokaze (Number 317)   
Dark Skies (Number 802)   
Merciful Wrath (Number 486)  
  
Please answer the questions and send off this letter to be entered._

_Name: ______________________________  
Age: ______  
Place of residence or place of contact: __________________________  
__________________________  
Work-place or school: _______________________  
  
Q1) What are the four Houses of Hogwarts?  
____________________________________________________  
Q2) What is the top speed of the Firebolt? (In miles.)  
_____________  
Q3) What is a manticore?  
______________________________________  
Q4) Name three types of wand cores, and three types of wand woods.  
_____________________________________________  
_____________________________________________  
Q5) (Tie Breaker question)  
What would you use to travel back in time?  
_________________________

Harry grinned as he realised he could answer all these questions easily; he went to Hogwarts - he had a Firebolt - Hagrid's gift of a Manticore figurine looked completely realistic - the wand question was simple enough - and the final question was obviously a trick. Most people would be writing Pensieves or other objects that allowed the user to see the past.  
Harry, however, knew that one of the few objects that allowed actual time _travel_ was a Time Turner, one of which he had used in his third year at Hogwarts.  
Taking a quill, he filled in the blank spaces, fed Sterling and Hedwig (who was living mainly on the ground floor) some toast, and sent Hedwig off to deliver the letter. There wasn't much chance of winning, but there was a possibility - and not everyone would buy a hundredth newspaper, answer the questions correctly, or even send it off. This thought cheered Harry's optimism slightly and he made his breakfast, waiting for the adults to come.

~ ~ ~

September 11th was one of Harry's favourite days of the year.  
Lupin had dropped him off at Kings Cross Station with his 'pet dog', whilst Harry entered Platform 9 3/4.  
At soon as he penetrated the ticket barrier, the sounds of wizards and witches came in full force. The Hogwarts Express waited on its rails, children and teenagers dragging chests, trunks and cages on board.  
Sterling and Hedwig watched as a pair of first years tried to get a hissing cat into one of the carriages, and a sixth year showed an obviously rare Chocolate Frog card to an excited companion.  
"Harry! Over here!"  
Swiveling the trolley holding his possessions around to face the voice, he found it was Hermione. She waved at him, Crookshanks, her pet cat, peering round her legs.  
Ron stood by her side, looking angry about something, which Harry quickly saw the reason for - Fred and George were standing nearby, and had probably been teasing him.  
Harry made his way over to them, glad to have been spotted, and they greeted each other cheerfully.  
He had just thanked them for his presents before Fred and George grabbed him by the arms and pulled him away. Ron and Hermione watched bemused as the pair calmly picked him up.  
"Oy, get off!" Harry struggled against the grinning twins and failing miserably.  
They set him down just in front of part of the ticket barrier's wall.  
"Our dear friend Harry," Fred started.  
"And co-partner Mr. Potter." George ended.  
"You may remember our telling you that we were setting up shop in Diagon Alley after Hogsmeade."  
"Yeah," said Harry, suspicious of his sudden abduction, "Has that got something to do with kidnapping me?"  
"Well." grinned George, stroking one of Sterling's soft wings. "As we have another year at Hogwarts left, with our wonderful NEWTS to study for. . ." At the word 'study' Fred gave a dismissive snort, "We have decided that the next store will be opening next year once we've finished."  
"Now, you may be wondering why we've dragged you over here just to tell you this."  
"Correct."  
"Don't interrupt!" George cleared his throat dramatically, "As we are going to be busy this year, you're going to have to help us. Nothing like with taxes or anything," he amended hastily, "just with ideas for new jokes and all. We don't have time to be out on the field researching."  
Harry thought about this for a second. He was co-owner and he should earn his title after all. "Okay then."  
The twins positively beamed. "Knew we could count on you, Harry old chap."  
"Absolutely spiffing, wot?" And with the daft accents, they saluted and left.  
"Yeah, fine." Harry muttered, trying to make sense of the two older boys.  
He walked back to Hermione and Ron, who were looking at him curiously, but resisted the urge to ask him what the twins had wanted.  
"Hey." Ron picked up his trunk and Pigwidgeon's cage. "Ginny's saving us a carriage. Should we go in now, or wait until the train's going to leave? There's another ten minutes left."  
"We should go in now. Then, if we don't like the carriage, we can find another one instead of having to make do." Hermione, ever the voice of reason, said. Harry didn't mind either way, but he went between Ron and Hermione to Ginny and the carriage, which turned out to be one with a table in each compartment.  
The girl was sitting with a pack of cards, which Harry guessed to be exploding snap. "Hi Ginny." he smiled at her, climbing in and taking a seat opposite her. Hermione sat next to Ginny and Ron opposite Hermione.  
Ginny gave a small blush when she saw the glasses-wearing boy, but didn't drop her cards - Harry was thankful for this, and guessed she was getting over her crush on him.  
"Hi Harry." she squeaked ('Perhaps not.' thought Harry) and laid the cards on the table. Hermione leaned over them. "Are these Tarot cards?" she questioned, picking the pack up. She flicked through them. "They are." she declared, although it was obvious now that Harry could see the pictures.  
Ginny gave a small laugh. "I couldn't work out anything though. I'm just glad I didn't take up Divination last year; I'm useless at it."  
"Hang on," Harry said suddenly, reaching down and fumbling with his trunk. "This should help." He finally found what he was looking for - his Future Finder from Hermione. She raised an eyebrow at him. "When I got you that I didn't know you'd put it to use so soon."  
"Better than not at all." Harry smiled. "I'm not sure how to do Tarot readings-"  
"We'll be doing them this year." Ron interrupted. "Bill did it, and he said fifth year was when he started Tarot."  
"Okay then. Let's just each take a random card for now, and we'll do it properly when we know how to."  
Hermione declined - she said she didn't believe that sort of stuff was really true, and that she got it only so they wouldn't be spending hours each night devising deaths for themselves.  
Ginny also shook her head; "I'd prefer to do it myself, once I know how to, than with something already telling me."  
What really surprised Harry was when Ron also didn't want to. "Why not?" he asked in amazement. "I dunno really Harry," the red-haired boy shrugged, "I know it's good to be prepared and all, but I don't want to be constantly terrified something's going to happen. You have a go though."  
In the end, Harry gave in and tried it himself. As they had literally not a clue how to use them, Harry simply selected a random card. He turned it over, and looked at the picture.  
It was a grinning, skeletal Death.  
"Jeez Harry!" gasped an ashen-faced Ron. "It's like the Grim- you're going to die!"  
Hermione rolled her eyes. "You don't know what it means, Ron. Stick it in, then." she said to Harry.  
Obeying her, he pressed a small button on the side of the box. A small black tray slid out, and he put the card into it.  
It slid silently back in. Nothing happened. "Read the manual." Ginny suggested. "Okay," Harry said, having picked up the thin book from where it lay on the table. "Apparently. . . oh, yeah. You're meant to put some parchment in, otherwise it can't give you an answer."  
There was another, fast, hunt in Harry's trunk, this time for writing material.  
Ron ripped it to size and put it in a slot, which shot it back out again.  
"That was fast. . ." he said, looking at it. "You're not going to die Harry."  
"Goody."  
"Well, it was pulled out upright according to this paper. That means 'Transformation, making way for the new, unexpected change, loss, failure, illness or death, bad luck'. So there's still a possibility of dying. All in all, not sounding like a good year. Trelawney'd pay to see this."  
Hermione gave a small sniff to show her loathing of the teacher and took the card off Ron. "It can hardly be all of them. For all we know Harry's 'illness' could be a small cold. And that's if any of it comes true, or if it happened to Harry instead of to someone else, or i-"  
"I get the point, Herm'." Harry sighed. "Let's just forget it, okay?"  
A whistle sound, signalling the train's departure, and the compartment door opened. Neville Longbottom turned out to be the one who had opened it because he looked in. "Professor McGonagall wants the Gryffindor prefects in the Prefect Carriage."  
There was silence. "So. You're Prefects, huh?" Ron said finally.  
"It's not that big a deal." Harry said quickly, "And besides, I'd rather sit here."  
Hermione agreed hastily. "It's okay." Ron said in a strained voice. "Go on, I'll stay with Ginny. Might see Fred and George as well."  
"No way." Hermione vowed, "We're friends and we're sitting together. I think the teachers made the wrong choices about Prefects anyway." She cleared her voice slightly. "_Malfoy's _one."  
Neville stuttered, "Professor McGonagall said you had to come. The Head boy and girl are going to be giving a lecture on responsibilities."  
"Go on, you two." Ginny whispered to Harry, "I'll keep an eye on Ron and give him a good talking to."  
"Thanks." Harry muttered in reply. "Come on Herm. See you Ron, Ginny."  
They picked up their trunks; Hermione exited the carriage, slightly surprised, and Harry followed.  
He was interested to see, as he walked past other compartments, that people were just as ignorant of his new position as his friends had been. Hermione had insisted that he put his Prefect badge on as he walked to the carriage ("Honestly Harry, it's nothing to be ashamed of." she tutted) and now the shining gold and red was easily spotted against his Muggle clothing, which he would be swapping for his robes as the journey came nearly to an end.  
Neville left them as they reached the door that separated the Prefect carriage from the one behind, and fingered his casual robes nervously. "Uh. . . good luck, then. Congratulations."  
Hermione smiled graciously, and Harry briefly wondered whether she was going to extend her hand for Neville to kiss, and put on a regal accent.  
"Thanks Neville. Come on Harry. Time to look Death in the face." she laughed, not noticing the wince that Harry gave as he remembered end of the Tournament last year.  
They opened the door and entered.

~ ~ ~

For a moment, Harry thought he'd stepped into the Gryffindor common room. There was some kind of expansion spell, such as that in the Weasley's old car at work, for the carriage had four compartments, and a large space in the centre with actual _sofas _and a coffee table.  
Possibly the weirdest things were the plush carpet and the hanging, crystal chandelier. 'Why did Percy never mention this?' he wondered. Hermione seemed just as awestruck - obviously they didn't mention _this_ in 'Hogwarts - A History'.  
The reason why he thought of the Gryffindor common room, was that the compartment nearest him on his left was decorated in a deep scarlet with gold cushions on the seat, trimmings on the walls, curtains, and other small items.  
The compartment to his right was decorated in an emerald green with silver effects.  
The left compartment furthest from him was in Hufflepuff colours, yellow and black, and to the far right the section there was in Ravenclaw colours of navy blue and bronze.  
Obviously, these were the compartments for the Prefects, and whatever house the Heads were in. Right now however, the Prefects, Heads and Professor McGonagall were sitting (or in the case of McGonagall, standing) in the centre section waiting and trying not to laugh at Hermione's face. Harry was thankful to note that he was not gaping at the carriage like a loon, unlike Hermione, so he nudged her. Her jaw quickly snapped up and she regained her composure. "Sorry we're late, everyone! Hope we didn't keep you waiting."  
The Slytherin Prefects scowled and the teacher gave a small smile, whilst everyone else grinned at the usually punctual and organised Hermione get flustered.  
"Please take a seat, you two." Professor McGonagall said, motioning towards one of the squashy sofas that circled the table, all facing the same way - towards her - and giving a strange look at Sterling, still perched on Harry's shoulder. It was strange, but Harry seemed to forget she was there, so quiet and light was she.  
What followed had to be the most boring speech that Harry had ever attended. Whilst Hermione and the Ravenclaw Prefects gazed in rapt attention at their newly-discovered role model, the strict lady rattled off rules, regulations, suggested punishments and awards, the usual amount of points taken and given for specific jobs or pranks, how to schedule detentions, what to do in an emergency, how to change the common room's password, settling down first years once they arrived, ordering specific meals at lunch and breakfast for students with allergies, and even typical dates for Hogsmeade visits - which Harry didn't even know Prefects controlled - and much more, the whole carriage's heads were spinning.  
Hermione had been noting items of interest down in a small book, and nodding fervently, as if agreeing that yes, this would all be in order.  
Harry was pleased to see Draco Malfoy (who had obviously been looking forward to a lazy job with many benefits and no responsibilities) looked as if he had been Stunned.  
McGonagall stopped speaking a few hours later, by which time everyone was stiff and aching. Harry suspected she had only stopped because she had run out of breath. "Now," she snapped, proving his suspicions false, "in your compartments, you will find some parchment and a quill. You will need ten passwords for your common rooms. I will collecting them after you have finished and will be casting a spell to transfer the passwords to the bookcase's, portrait's, armour's or whatever else is in front of the entrance's memory.  
"If you forget any of the passwords, you can ask your head of house, although you should write them down - it doesn't look good for a Prefect to be forgetful.  
"You'll also need to change into your school robes, as we'll be arriving in four hours. Bring your papers to me when you're ready, and no sneaking looks at other house's passwords, or _else _."  
The Head Girl and Boy's eyes had glazed over from the speech they must have heard the year, or perhaps two years before; now they snapped to attention and headed to their respective compartments, the Prefects getting up and going to theirs.  
When Hermione and Harry went to their section, the two sixth year Gryffindor Prefects refused to choose passwords. "It's a sort of tradition," one explained, "Only the fifth years choose passwords. Next year, you won't choose the passwords - the latest Prefects will."  
So, whilst the other two played Gobstones, a Wizarding game, Harry and Hermione decided the year's passwords.  
"Right," said Harry, "Let's take it in turns. You first."  
"House Elf Rights." said Hermione promptly.  
Harry rolled his eyes and wrote it down. "I thought you'd given that up. My password will be. . . Padfoot."  
"Prongs."  
"Moony."  
Harry paused. "I'm all out." he admitted. "You choose yours, and I'll just think."  
Hermione looked thoughtful. "We each have three more to choose, so my third will be. . . Baltanders. And before you ask what that means, I'm not going to tell you. If you saw it, you'd know." Harry stifled a laugh. "Fine. You have two, I have three. . . Polyjuice." Hermione pulled a face. "Do we really want to remember that? Snitch."  
"Damn, I was going to have that. Okay," he said, remembering his unusual letter, "Vocare."  
'Leopard' was Hermione's final password whilst Harry had one left. He wrote down the passwords they had made up on a scrap piece of parchment, in case they forgot. "Herm', how about I have a bit of fun during the last month?" he grinned suddenly.  
"With what?" Hermione queried warily, looking suspiciously at Harry.  
"How about making the last password of the year 'Voldemort'?"  
Hermione stared. "Harry, that's _evil!_ All the Wizarding borns would have a fit if they knew they had to say _that _to enter their rooms!"  
"Come on, Hermione, it's just a bit of a laugh. Maybe it will make them less scared of saying it afterwards."  
Hermione finally relented, and they showed it to the older Prefects to make sure it was all in order. They gave them funny looks at the first two, and nearly hyperventilated at 'Voldemort', but finally agreed they were all fine. The girl seemed to like the idea of making all the Gryffindors say his name, as she could barely stop laughing after the initial shock.  
Whilst Harry went to deliver the parchment to Professor McGonagall, the three Gryffindors put their robes over their Muggle clothes, or casual robes, which was the Wizarding version of Muggle casual wear.  
The Ravenclaws had already finished their passwords, and were chatting amiably in their section. The Slytherins were frowning over their parchment; obviously stuck for ideas. and the Hufflepuffs were having a heated argument over whether the eighth password should be 'Diagon Alley' or 'Hogsmeade'. As soon as they realised Harry could hear their ranting through the compartment wall, they quietened down and chose something different.  
The Head Boy and Girl, as well as the teacher was waiting in the centre section, the Ravenclaw's passwords face down on the table. "Harry," the professor nodded, and held out her hand for the paper. She gave it a quick once-over, seeming taken-aback by the final choice, but composed herself quickly.  
"Very well." she said, laying it by the Ravenclaws'. "I'll perform the charm once everyone has handed their passwords in." Harry headed back to his compartment, ignoring a glare from Malfoy, and pulled his new robes on over his Muggle t-shirt and jeans, knowing he'd change properly when he'd reached his dormitory. He took his badge off; it didn't feel a part of him, unlike his watch or glasses.  
The two older Prefects were laughing about something or other, and Hermione was (big surprise) reading 'Hogwarts: A History' again. Strangely, she was taking notes down in the same book that she had been writing the rules in.  
"Is there a guide for Prefects in there, or something?" Harry asked, peering over the book. Hermione looked up crossly. "No, I'm writing some important notes. If you want to know, I'm sure you'll find out why by the end of the term."  
"So I don't have to wait long, then." Harry muttered, and took out the three books he had received for his birthday. Putting 'Prefects Who Gained Power' to the side (he decided to save that for a time that he couldn't get to sleep) he finally decided on reading 'A Guide to Animagus Transformations', as the ability may come in useful.  
He opened the book and started to read. It was well written - the author had taught Transfiguration at Beauxbatons a few years earlier according to the 'About the Author' page, and had written the book especially for students and beginners, which meant Harry didn't have to look up long Latin phrases.  
Chapter one was an introductory history; famous Animagus', how the spell was discovered and when, and a listing of the top fifty most common animal forms throughout history.  
Harry was interested to see that cats, of which Professor McGonagall could turn into, were only in the forty second position - he would have expected it to be more common.  
The chapter was long, but interesting, and Harry finished it a while later. Chapter two was even more worthy of note. It was help on deciding what animal to become, and the possibilities of becoming the form of your spirit guide; an old belief of most Wizards and Witches.  
Reading about the mental journey to the Spirit World, Harry made a note to try it that night; apparently on going there, he could find his Spirit Guide, the animal that most suited his personality and mind.  
There was an hour left until the train arrived at the Hogwarts station, and until Harry had chosen his form, the next chapters would be useless to him.  
He struck up a conversation about Quidditch with the older Gryffindor Prefects, whose names turned out to be Lucille Jenkins and William Milialw.  
When they grew tired of that, Harry started his 'Prefects Who Gained Power', where he learned that over three quarters of Hogwarts Prefects ended up working with the Ministry of Magic; something he decided there was no way _he_ was going to do. A while later, the train arrived at the station. Hermione picked up her notebook and glared at anyone who looked at it, which included half the other Prefects.  
Harry was one of the last to get off the Hogwarts Express. As he balanced Hedwig's cage on top of his trunk, he clambered shakily out of the ornate carriage.  
Professor McGonagall had already gone, as had many of the Prefects. Harry was thankful to see that Malfoy was nowhere in sight; it was the first year he hadn't had a confrontation with him on the train, and he wasn't keen to start a new habit of meeting him at the station.  
Far back, he could hear Hagrid yelling for the first years to meet together and start their traditional boat ride to the school, across the Great Lake.  
Hermione was waiting for him by one of the horseless carriages that second years and above entered the school grounds by, and Harry made his way over.  
Ron and Ginny had already got seats inside; Ron seemed quite cheerful for the rest of the journey to Hogwarts - Ginny's talk seemed to have worked.  
Finally, they glimpsed the castle between the tall trees that lined the road; and soon they were passing through the giant iron gates with their winged boar statues. Giving Sterling a final stroke, Harry made his way into the castle with the others.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Well, I don't own any HP characters... I do own Sterling, this version of the Order of the Phoenix, the plot, yadda yadda yadda...

**Chapter 4:  
Of Sortings and Surprises **

**  
** Scything through the sky on broad, pointed wings, the streamlined peregrine is an aerial predator without equal.  
~ Wild-Life Facts 

Thankfully, the weather was a lot better than last year; the Sun was only just going down, and still shining brightly.  
Harry followed his friends inside the castle, crowds of students jostling to get inside. The Great Hall's roof - enchanted to look like the sky outside - was a warm blue, with wispy clouds dotted at intervals.  
Harry mouthed a 'hi' to Remus Lupin, who had been re-hired as the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher.  
Harry took a place at the oaken Gryffindor table, and Hermione and Ron sat beside him, Ginny moving further up the table to be with her year and Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor ghost..  
The next few minutes were spent chatting with housemates and catching up on 'what I did in the Summer holidays' stories, of which Harry had nothing to say; he couldn't very well explain staying with an ex-teacher and convicted murderer, after having his house blown up (although it would have been one of the most exciting tales).  
It was two minutes past seven o'clock when McGonagall and her group of first-years came in, the eleven year olds gazing in awe at the enchanted ceiling and the floating candles that lit the hall.  
Professor McGonagall set a three legged stool down at the front of the hall, and laid the Sorting Hat on it; an old, battered, pointed hat, which looked as though it had existed for centuries - which Harry knew it had.  
A small tear opened at the brim - it became larger - and the hat began to sing, to the amusement of the eleven year olds.  
As the hat started it's song, Dean Thomas, one of Harry's housemates, leaned over and whispered to him, "Are you the Gryffindor Prefect?"  
"One of them." Harry muttered back, "They started getting two Prefects last year."  
"Thought so. I asked Seamus, and he said he wasn't one, and Neville barely had a chance, so it was between you and Ron." he said. "I'm betting Hermione's the other Prefect."  
"Did you really have to ask?" Harry grinned. "Straight A's, all the way. Apart from Potions, but you can't really base an opinion on that git's scoring system."  
"I heard Malfoy's one. No surprise, seeing as Snape favours the slimeball, but it's a definite pain."  
"Because you can't insult Malfoy in front of him anymore?"  
"Exactly. Good luck as a Prefect."  
"Thanks."  
The Sorting Hat was finishing it's song, and the gathered students clapped.  
"When your name is called," McGonagall told the waiting crowd of first-years loudly, "You will come up, sit on the stool and put the hat on your head. It will then choose your house. After you have been Sorted, go to your new house's table."  
Some of the children (Obviously the Muggle borns, thought Harry) looked at the woman as though she was mad.  
She unrolled a long scroll, and started reading.  
"Aine, Stephany." A girl walked out and put on the hat.  
"Hufflepuff!" the hat yelled after a second.  
"Bakerson, Thomas!"  
A small brown haired boy ran up and placed the hat on his head.  
"Hufflepuff!" the hat shouted.  
"Banks, Jessica."  
"Slytherin!  
The Slytherin table cheered, as the Gryffindors booed noisily.  
"Baylem, Johanna."  
"Ravenclaw!"  
"Brocklehurst, Nathan."  
"Ravenclaw"  
"Chang, Ryuu."  
"Gryffindor!"  
"Was that Cho Chang's brother?" Harry asked Ron, as the Gryffindors clapped loudly.  
"Probably, it isn't a very common name." Ron yelled over the noise.  
They didn't stop clapping: Cormac, Michael became a Gryffindor next.  
Harry listened to a few other students be sorted, and cheered Will Finnit when he became the third Gryffindor.  
"Geralis, Eric."  
"Slytherin!"  
The Gryffindors hissed and booed again, one of the Slytherins throwing a parchment aeroplane at Fred, who was faking being sick.  
Fiona Wood, Oliver Wood's younger sister, was the last Gryffindor. Harry briefly wondered what Oliver would think when he found his sister was in the same house.  
The Woodley twins, David and Lisa were next, and both were Sorted into Hufflepuff.  
Professor Dumbledore stood up and smiled. "I have a few start of term notices to give out. Firstly the Forbidden Forest is just as it's name, forbidden. Next, Quidditch matches are back on as of Thursday, and if I am correct, some players have finished Hogwarts this year and the last, which means there will have to be practices to decide the new players. Please remember that only second years and above may try out. Also, there will be a few new classes this year, although you do not have to take them if you do not wish to. The first is a class focusing on teaching hexes and spells which you can use to protect yourself. The second is a karate club, taught by Professor Lodesky who also teaches Muggle Studies. Finally, there will be a duelling club; note that I mean with magic, not swords." His eyes twinkled at the last remark. "I believe that is all." He sat again, and the feast appeared on all the tables.  
"Finally," said Ron, skewering an innocent potato with his fork as everyone rushed to eat, "I thought he'd never finish."  
"Is that Lupin at the staff table?" Neville asked in shock, at the prospect of a werewolf, "I thought he quit years ago!"  
Hermione tutted. "Just the two, and he's obviously come back. It looks like they couldn't find anyone else."  
"Anyone's better than Lockhart. Pity they didn't keep Mad-Eye though." Harry helped himself to some turkey, and listened to cries of disgust and amazement from the first years, as Nearly Headless Nick performed his yearly show (pulling his head not quite off). "And don't get scared, he's only a wolf once a month."  
Neville shrugged slightly. "S'pose so. He was a good teacher."  
Dumbledore's new sweet obsession appeared to be with Smarties: a large bowl of the multi-coloured sweets sat at every table, and Harry briefly wondered whether it was the new password for his office.  
When the meal had finished, Hermione nudged Harry. "Remember what Professor McGonagall said. One of the Prefects has to show the students to their dorms."  
"Oh, right." Harry muttered, and stood up with the other Prefect. "First years, follow me!" He called out to the rapidly dispersing Gryffindors. "First years - yes, that's you - come over here."  
After breaking up an argument between two of the boys ('You're a Gryffindor? I didn't know they let half-trolls into school.' 'Shut it!' 'Ow! He kicked me!'), the children finally followed him. He gave a final glare at Hermione, who was leisurely buttering a roll just to spite him, and headed off towards the Gryffindor tower.  
"Are you _really_ Harry Potter?" asked a wide eyed Lewis Kettle.  
"Yeah, but don't turn into my fan." Harry groaned, "I get enough of that already."  
"Yeah, right." said the offending boy, rolling his eyes. "Like you don't want to be famous."  
"Is that picture _moving? _" whispered one girl, tugging on Harry's robes. He briefly wondered how the other Prefects managed to do this when they were exhausted from an hours long train ride, and decided the others must have had some kind of genetic disposition towards it.  
"Yes, pictures move in the Wizarding world. You'll get used to it."  
"Duhh." sniggered one of the others to the Muggle-Born girl. "You're so-"  
"Two points from Gryffindor for starting an argument." Harry interrupted, enjoying his newfound power.  
The children stared at him, mouths agape. Harry smiled. "Yes, off my own house. Be warned."  
After that, they didn't argue - until they reached the Gryffindor dormitories anyway, where a fight broke out over who was getting the bed closest to the window that overlooked the Quidditch pitch. Harry gave up.

~ ~ ~

The next day was Sunday, which meant Harry decided to skip breakfast and lie in bed all day.  
Ron seemed to have other ideas, as he finally resorted to casually mentioning how Harry's Firebolt would look a lot better if it actually _was _on fire, to wake his best friend up.  
"Don't you dare," sighed Harry, finally relenting and sitting up. "What do you want?"  
"Sorry for disturbing you, oh high and mighty Prefect, but McGonagall sent up our lesson schedules and a list of names of the first years for you.  
Either it's a normal thing, or she has serious doubts about your memory."  
Harry gave a groan as he suddenly remembered he needed to check his 'Spirit Guide' as the book said. "Maybe I do have."  
"Whatever, mate." Ron passed him the timetable and list.  
The black-haired teenager glanced over the list. "Nathan Brocklehurst, Ravenclaw? Isn't Mandy his sister?" Ron shrugged. "Probably."  
With this helpful and lengthy answer, Harry looked at his schedule. "Double divination, first thing tomorrow?"  
"Yeah, but we can sleep afterwards. There's a single lesson History of Magic."  
Harry stared glumly at his schedule. "Then followed by another single of Potions?"  
"After that, we get our hands bitten off by whatever new monster Hagrid's found in double Care Of Magical Creatures and to follow up, we finish the day wiping bobotuber pus off our faces in double Herbology."  
Sterling gave a small croak of sympathy.  
"Why did you bother to wake me up? I was having a great time until you gave me that list." Harry moaned.  
"First, because I had to give you the _list _. Next reason, Dumbledore wants to see you. He said it was important." Ron said, heading over to his bed.  
This woke Harry up completely. "What about?"  
"If I knew, I'd have told you. Look, just head up, he said he'd be in his office. Didn't bother telling me the password."  
"I bet it's 'Smarties'." muttered Harry, grabbing his clothes.

~ ~ ~

It turned out that 'Smarties' was indeed the password, which was quite lucky; Harry hated to guess the password, as it always made him feel as though he was trespassing.  
He made his way up the spiral staircase to Dumbledore's office, thinking quickly about why he had been called.  
Dumbledore would not summon him for no reason; and on his first morning back meant it was something important.  
After a few twists, Harry came to the office door.  
He knocked on it dubiously, and was relieved to hear Dumbledore's voice perfectly normal when he called for Harry to enter.  
_This is probably a record for the time taken to be called to the head's office, _Harry thought amused, and stood in front of the headmaster.  
Dumbledore was sitting at his desk, looking at Harry in strange way. "Harry, do you know why I have called you here?"  
"No sir." said Harry dutifully, "Ron just said you wanted me to come here."  
Dumbledore nodded. "Yes. There are a few things I'd like to say. Firstly, I am sorry about your family, and for not being there in time." He frowned. "I believed that you would be safe with the precautions we had taken, but I now know that is not the case. The next is to ask where you found the bird on your shoulder."  
Harry stared at him, puzzled. "Professor, you sent her to me on my birthday," he said, confused. He took the letter out of his robes pocket, and gave it to him. "You sent this note and a list of school supplies with her."  
Dumbledore read the note quickly. "I sent you your list of school supplies once I heard you were in Diagon Alley; I didn't believe you would get another chance to collect your school things. However, I sent it with a school owl, not an Aldor Raven, and this letter was not written by me."  
Sterling rustled her feathers indignantly, and Harry glanced nervously at her.  
"Don't worry, Harry," Dumbledore smiled, seeing his plight, "Aldor Ravens are Light creatures, such as Phoenixes and Unicorns. Whoever sent her didn't want to harm you and most likely, as the letter says, will to protect you. So, I don't see any reason why she shouldn't stay."  
He rose suddenly, and opened one of desk drawers. "Also, I believe Mr. Crouch borrowed a piece of parchment from you last year, and I'm sure you would want it back." From inside the drawer, he took a piece of old, yellow parchment. Handing it to Harry, he smiled. "Now, I'm sure you have something interesting planned for the rest of the day."  
Which was, when translated, 'that will be all, go away'.  
Harry took the Marauders Map, thanked him, and left.

~ ~ ~

Harry met up with Ron for breakfast, and showed him the newly-returned Map. Apparently, Hermione was in the library ("She's _already _studying for O.W.Ls!" Ron said in disgust), so it looked like they were on their own for a while. Their conversation soon turned to Quidditch, in Harry and Ron's opinions, the greatest sport in the world.  
"Have they got any empty spaces on the Quidditch team?" Ron asked, stuffing a pancake in his mouth.  
"Yeah, loads." Harry replied, downing some Pumpkin Juice. "We've got to find a replacement captain and keeper. Plus Angelina's left now, and Katie, so we need two Chasers. Next year we'll have to find a pair of Beaters and another Chaser. And if we pick anyone from seventh year, we'll have to find more."  
"Do you think I'd be a good Keeper?" Ron asked eagerly, leaning in. "Do you think I should try out?"  
Harry thought about the last time he had seen Ron play. He had been surprisingly good; he didn't have natural talent, but he had good training, probably from playing it so much. "Yeah, I think you should. You're pretty good."  
Ron was cheered considerably at this news, and declared his decision to try out for the team as soon as the auditions came round. "I'll let you use my Firebolt," Harry said, "the school ones are terrible. We really should get some new ones in."  
"Yeah," Ron replied dreamily, "Just imagine the school getting some Lightning Bolts." He looked at Harry eagerly. "Have you heard about 'em? They're so _fast _! The Chudley Cannons newsletter's saying that they've managed to get a couple, isn't that great? Which Broom?'s calling it the greatest broom yet!"  
Harry forced himself not to duck under the table to protect himself from the onslaught of information. "Yeah, I heard." he muttered.  
Ron seemed to notice his lack of interest. "Have you seen Malfoy yet? You said he was a Prefect but I thought he'd be strutting around showing off by now. I've only seen him at the Sorting."  
Harry thought about this "I dunno. Maybe Pansy's dropped all the Prefect duties on him, and he doesn't have any time to annoy us."  
"Maybe. Talking of Prefects, what's Hermione doing? We don't have any homework yet! She can't _just _be revising."  
Harry shrugged. "I don't think she is. She's been acting weird lately. When I was with Snuffles, she went off to talk to him about something, but they wouldn't say what. Then, on the train she was writing something in a notebook."  
Ron perked up. "Did you see what it was?"  
"No. She got in a huff when I asked what she was doing."  
"Bummer. Maybe she's trying to become an Animagus? That would explain the talk with Snuffles."  
"I don't think so." Harry said, finishing his breakfast. "She would have told us if it was that. Probably would have asked us to become ones along with her."  
"Do you think I should become an Animagus?" Ron stood up and finished his drink. "I've been thinking about it, but I can't decide."  
Harry stood up as well, and they made their way to the library. "I suppose so. I've been thinking about becoming an Animagus as well; got the book and everything. I'm just waiting for night time so I can try the Spirit Guide theory."  
Ron was definitely interested now. "Spirit Guide? What's that meant to be?"  
Harry glared at Mrs Norris, who was watching them with beady eyes, and continued. "Apparently at birth, you get a Spirit Guide, which has the form of the animal that most fits your personality. Even some Muggles believe in it. It's meant to help you and all, but you can visit it in your sleep. Because you should choose an Animagus form that fits your personality, some Wizards find their Spirit Guide form and choose that as their Animagus form."  
Ron raised an eyebrow. Harry grinned sheepishly. "I practically memorised the book. The problem is, you can only find your Spirit Guide on a holy night and the next one is Halloween."  
"Cool." whistled Ron. "Can I borrow the book?"  
"Yeah. I can't do anymore until I've chosen my form anyway."  
"Thanks. What did Dumbledore want to talk to you about anyway?" Ron asked, holding the library door open.  
"Wanted to give me the Marauders Map back, and tell me about Sterling." Harry followed Ron into the library, "He didn't send her to me."  
Ron gasped, "What if it was You-Know-Who? Harry, did you tell him the truth?"  
Harry resisted the urge to look annoyed. "What do you think I did? Anyway, he says she's safe, so no problem."  
Ron looked doubtful. "Yeah, but there could be really good shielding charms on her."  
"No, apparently there's no way she could hurt me." Harry said, heading down the 'corridor' between the shelves for 'Dark arts, Defence Against and 'Dark Arts, Laws for'.  
Hermione was sitting at one of the tables further down. "Told you she was still here," Ron groaned, "I swear, she's going to be setting up camp here soon."  
Hermione looked up as they approached and smiled brightly. "Oh, _there _you are. I was getting worried."  
"_You _were worried?" Ron muttered darkly.  
"I was looking around and I found these really interesting books." Hermione continued, pretending she hadn't heard, "And I was wondering whether you wanted to join me."  
"What," Ron wondered, ever the brain-box, "Like, merge with you?"  
The girl scowled. "Stop being sarcastic. I was talking about whether you'd like to do the same thing as me," She gave a dramatic pause, and came to an end, "and become an Animagus!"  
"Oh, yeah. We were thinking about that on the way up here, and we were wondering whether you'd like to do it with us." Ron said smugly.  
Hermione stared. Harry pretended to look around the books, so he'd avoid the upcoming fight between the two.  
"You're lying," Hermione said finally, "You're just trying to make it seem like you thought of it first."  
"We're not!" argued the red-haired boy. "Ask Harry, he's even got a book on it."  
"Fine," Hermione snapped, "That's perfectly fine. Absolutely fine. Fine."  
Harry ducked out of sight and range behind a desk.  
"Ronald Weasley, when were you expecting to tell me this?"  
"Right now, Harry and I came here _to_ tell you," he retaliated.  
_'Please, leave me out of this,' _Harry thought, _'I'm too young to die. . .'  
_"No, you weren't. You just decided to tell me so that you'd seem smarter. Well, I don't see any reason to tell you what else I'm doing, and _I _was _going _to tell you. Besides, I bet I can be an Animagus before _you_ two." Hermione barked, gaining a glare from Madame Pince, the librarian so strict she could give McGonagall a run for her money.  
Hermione grabbed her books, practically threw them into her bags and stormed out, earning yet another reproving glare.  
Harry stepped out from his hiding place. "That didn't go as violently as I thought it would."  
Ron shook his head. "She's mental. And what did she mean, what _else_ she's doing?"  
"How should I know? Maybe the talk with Snuffles didn't have anything to do with being an Animagus after all. It sounds more like she's only just thought about it, to me."  
"Tell you what though," Ron grinned, clapping his hands together, "That 'I can be an Animagus before you' sounded like a challenge. Shall we get training?"  
"Ron, we don't have time t-"  
Ron waved his hand dismissively. "Let's skip the Spirit Guide, and just choose what we want to be. We don't _have _to do the Guide thing, so why bother?"  
"Okay," Harry agreed, "But if we want to beat Hermione, we'd better get started right away. So what animals are we going to be?"  
He took a seat, and Ron did the same, obviously thinking hard. "I don't want to swim; I'd want to change anywhere, not just in water." Ron said logically, "So that just leaves ground and flying animals. I think I'd want to be a Muggle creature, so I'd attract less attention. . ."  
"That narrows it down a lot," Harry encouraged, "Go on. Keep telling me what you want, and I'll think about what Muggle animal fits the conditions."  
"Right. Well, I'd like it to be red; to suit my hair now, and I don't want it to resemble a human."  
"A red squirrel is a definite choice right now," Harry suggested, "Do you want it to be able to fight or anything?"  
"Uh - a bit. Oh, and I want to be fast. And not too small, and not too big."  
Harry went over all the Muggle animals he'd heard of in his mind. "Got it!" he said suddenly. "A fox. They can fight quite well, they're fast and they're red. I would have stuck with my old thoughts and said squirrel," he explained, "but you said you didn't want it too small."  
"Great!" Ron exclaimed, excited, "I know what they look like as well, so I won't have to research them. Brill, thanks!"  
Harry moved into a more comfortable position and stroked Sterling. Briefly, he thought of how free Sterling and Hedwig seemed to look when they were flying, and how easy it would be to escape the Dursley's if he had wings. "I'd like to fly," he said slowly, "but nothing magical, for the same reason as you."  
"I don't know many non-magical birds; apart from robins and sparrows and stuff," Ron pointed out, "So you'll have to think of your own, mate. What do you want?"  
Harry ran over a few things in his head. "I don't want to be small," he decided, "and I want to be able to fly long distances, so nothing like a budgie. And - " He was silent. "I don't want it to be a seed eater. I want it to hunt live prey."  
"Some kind of eagle?" his friend suggested.  
An eagle? No; there were no eagles in Britain, as far as Harry knew. That would attract too much attention. If only there was a bird; light, but not too small, speedy, native to Britain - and then he knew.

~ ~ ~

He had been seven years old when he first saw it. His junior school had a nature garden out by the playground, and whenever he could, Harry escaped Dudley's gang by going out there. Hardly anyone else went out, except during the occasional Biology lesson that they had to have live samples of frogs and newts for, so it was always quiet.  
One Thursday break, however, Harry had slipped away from the crowds of screaming hooligans-to-be and had gone into the nature garden. Usually, the only birds that went in were blue tits, woodpeckers and small nut-eaters like sparrows and thrushes. Today, though, there was a dead mouse laying on the grass, it's side split open revealing it's internal organs. Standing, one clawed foot on it to hold the body down, was a peregrine falcon.  
Harry knew that most of the boys in his school would have said 'cool' and thrown stones at it, and that the girls would have given a shriek and ran away, but Harry also knew that he was not like the others.  
For some reason, it didn't look disgusting or cruel to him - it just looked _right_. The bird was so regal, with it's crown of feathers, that the young Harry had wondered how anyone could call the bald eagle the king of birds;  
it stood, perched gracefully on it's kill. Beautiful, but deadly, it reached it's sharp beak inside the mouse's stomach and ripped out a string of red intestine. It turned it's head slightly to look at Harry, and spread it great white wings. Then, flapping the gently at first, and then powerfully, it rose into the air in a rush of feathers, and soared out of sight.

~ ~ ~

"A peregrine falcon." Harry said confidently. That's what I want to be."  
"Great," Ron grinned. "Let's go read the next chapter of your book."

~ ~ ~

When they reached the Gryffindor common room, it appeared that Hermione hadn't come up, which Ron pointed out to be good news ('Now we don't have take the time to avoid her,' he said, nearly leaping for joy). While Ron saved two seats by the window, Harry retrieved his Animagus book from the dormitory.  
"Right," he said, opening the book to the correct chapter and looking through it, "I'll basically summarise it and take out the unimportant parts."  
"Start then," Ron griped impatiently.  
"I am, calm down." Harry finished looking and flipped back to the starting page. "Alright. We'll find an empty classroom or something, then we've got to clear our minds of everything but the animal. We have to picture it perfectly - all it's markings, size, weight, colours, everything."  
"Sounds easy enough."  
"Nah, that's the easy part. You've got to imagine it from every angle, at the same time. You have to think about how it lives, how it thinks. Even how the blood runs through it. How it feels, how it senses things, what it's instincts are like, the texture of it's fur or feathers. . ."  
As the list grew longer and longer, Ron's face grew from excitement interest, surprise, to shock, to complete and utter disbelief. A minute later Harry ended the list.  
"So for a start, we should plan what markings and colours we're going to have." Harry concluded.  
"Eep?" gasped Ron, "We can't do all that, that's impossible!"  
Harry smiled. "The Marauders didn't think so, or Rita Skeeter. And Hermione didn't seem to think so either." He sighed. "Let's start with you again. What colour and markings?"  
Ron groaned, but knew that Harry wasn't joking about continuing. "Reddy-brown body. Normal colours really." Eagerness shot through his face. "But I'll have silver paws, and a silver tip to my tail."  
"Eyes?"  
"Brown. Unquestionably, brown."  
Harry smirked. "Big word for today. Okay; the underside of my wings, my stomach and up to my beak will be white, but there'll be black flecks. Eyes are most certainly black, and my back, head and top of wings will be black."  
"What about markings? I can't think of a single one."  
"My scar." Harry said automatically. "I'll have some kind of shape on my form's forehead. A white zigzag, like my lightning bolt."  
"Cool. I'll have silver freckles." Ron said, pointing to the orange freckles on his face that always seemed to come out during Autumn and Winter.  
"Okay, it's;" Harry checked his watch - Remus had fixed it over the holidays. "Two o'clock right now. Shall we practice today, or wait?"  
"Might as well get a start."  
Harry gave Ron The Look Of Despair. "You're just starting early so that you get a head-start on Hermione."  
"So? It'll work, won't it?" Ron argued.  
"Okay, don't bite me." Harry sighed. When did Ron start getting so competitive with Hermione? Usually it was just a few nerd jokes, and a small argument.  
"I won't bite you, at least not as a human. I swear."  
Harry forced himself to look serious. "Okay. Classroom?"  
"Charms. That's always unlocked in case anyone wants to practice."  
"Perfect. Let's go." Harry said, getting up. "I swear, I've traveled the whole castle today. . ."

~ ~ ~ 

The charms classroom hadn't changed, but then, Harry hadn't been expecting it to.  
Professor Flitwick's desk sat in front of the blackboard; no one had any idea why there was a board in there - school legends said it had never been used.  
The room was ideal for practicing Animagus transformations; although most of the room was in a square shape, it had a small section out of sight, like a square added on beside the wall. Harry and Ron went into the square section and Ron peered round the corner. "No one there. Right, I'll tell you if someone comes. Start trying."  
"What! You're not going to try with me?" Harry asked, stunned.  
"Not yet. If I'm not trying, I can tell you whether anyone about you changes. Go on."  
Harry nodded in resignation and took off his glasses, Sterling hopping over to the top of a cabinet. Closing his eyes, he started to concentrate.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Go away and look at previous disclaimers.

**Chapter 5:  
Of Transformations and Trelawney. **

  
My books are friends that never fail me.  
~ Thomas Carlyle

Slowly draining the background sounds away, Harry conjured the image of his chosen form in his mind. He started to view the bird from separate angles, adding them to to each other and moving on to the next angle.  
For each angle he envisioned the way it would look in different poses; flying, with it's wings outstretched; asleep; standing; taking off. He imagined each patch of black on it's white underside, the shadow from it's wings, the unique marking on it's forehead. He heard it's calls, and in his mind's eye saw it's curved talons and wicked beak.  
He imagined the feeling of flying, not a prisoner to Earth's pull, and the rush of the hunt, swooping down.  
He felt the territorial instincts as it defended it's territory; and realised that he wasn't imagining it any more.  
He could really feel the instincts and thoughts of a peregrine falcon, overlapping his human sentiency.  
He opened his eyes.  
The vision was a shock. Briefly he remembered one of his Biology lessons; _'Predatory birds can see for miles around,' _the teacher had said, _'Falcons and hawks have the best sight.'  
_Every inch of the room was visible. He could see flecks of dust dancing in the air, the way the sunlight moved into the room, the pores of Ron's fa- ew.  
Ron was staring at him with a mix of excitement and disbelief. "What's wrong?" Harry asked, but it came out as a squawk.  
"Harry, are you alright? Did it hurt?" Ron gasped, still staring.  
Gazing down at himself, Harry realised the reason for his bird-like cry. His eyesight was changed, that much was obvious, but his hands and arms were wings. His elbow had reversed direction, and his arm bones had become hollow and light. White feathers sprung out, black dots adorning them, and his black robes had become white and feathered at the front; obviously, his clothing was incorporated into the change.  
On the back of his robes as well, the black cloak had stayed black, but had nearly fully formed feathers, silky smooth, lying flat.  
He felt slightly shorter as well, but only by a few centimetres.  
"Geez," breathed Ron, "That's your first try. You'll have it before Hermione at this rate. These usually take _years_. I heard even Merlin took months, and all he could get the first try were claws."  
Harry, realising his vocal chords must have changed, gave Ron a questioning look.  
"He became a dragon. A red one, a Chinese Fireball." Ron enlightened. "Okay, try to change back, I want a go."  
Keeping his eyes open this time, Harry thought about his human form. It was easier this time; he knew exactly how he looked and thought, instead of having to make up a completely new form.  
In just a few seconds, he had shifted back.  
Ron gave a few claps. "Now _that _was cool. Your scar changed as well, I don't know if you felt. And your eyes, you wouldn't know that."  
"My sight was a lot better, but I didn't know they looked different." Harry murmured, comparing his human vision to his Animagus forms'. He put his glasses back on.  
"Yeah," Ron grinned, "You looked really freaky with these round, black eyes. And your scar turned this really bright white. It was amazing." He moved further into the space and let Harry move out so he could see the door.  
"You keep watch now, tell me if anyone comes."  
Harry watched as Ron closed his eyes. He looked deep in concentration, frowning slightly.  
Looking carefully, Harry watched as Ron's freckles turned a dazzling silver, and long whiskers of the same colour grew out of his cheeks.  
Slowly, his ears changed shape, the tips turning to a point, and edged further up his head, his red hair brushed aside. As they moved and grew, they changed to a furry red, coming to rest on top of his Ron's head.  
Looking away from the ears, Harry nearly jumped when he saw a silver tipped fox's tail swishing around, and Ron's hands were almost paws; his fingers had melded together, and silvery claws were growing instead of fingernails.  
"Don't stop," Harry urged, feeling a pang of excitement, "You've changed a lot, just keep going."  
A fur-like pattern emerged on Ron's skin, turning a pale orange and darkening to red; it rippled up and down the boy and his clothes, turning 3-D and emerging as fur.  
"Ron," choked Harry, "You've got fur; and. . . Just don't stop. Keep going, you're further than me now."  
Complying to his friend's request, Ron continued, obviously having trouble resisting the urge to open his eyes.  
His arms and legs shifted direction now, forcing him to fall, but Harry grabbed him. "Not much longer." he said.  
Ron's face started to bulge out, his nose growing smaller and black, as Ron himself grew smaller. His shoes were changing now, to paws, confirming that their clothes would change with them.  
A few seconds later, the change was over, and a fox stood before Harry, eyes still closed. _'What the heck is happening?'_ Harry wondered, _This should take years, and he's done it on his first try; I probably would have as well, if I hadn't stopped.'  
_"You can open your eyes now." Harry said, fighting a losing battle to keep his face straight. An Animagus! Ron was an Animagus! He'd definitely won his bet with Herm', that much was certain.  
Ron opened his eyes immediately, allowing Harry to see hazel-brown irises.  
Letting out a yelp - of joy or shock, Harry wasn't sure - and craned his head round, looking at his fur and tail. He turned back to Harry, eyes sparkling, and gave another bark.  
"Great! Okay, don't change back yet." Harry said, flipping the pages of his book forward to chapter seven. "You do realise that you completely skipped four chapters of training, don't you?" Ron gave him a self-satisfied look.  
"I'll take that as a 'no, but I'm proud of it' look." Harry said, still smiling, looking for the right page. "Okay, here it is. Once you've completed your transformation, if you think a few words, then you can change into it whenever you want without having to go through all the concentration. Just think the words over in your head until you feel a jolt. Got it?" He forced back a laugh at seeing a fox nod earnestly. There were some things that the Wizarding world never readied you for.  
"Right then. The words are 'Animagus Activus'."  
Ron closed his eyes and focused. A second later, he shifted back to a human.  
"It worked!" he gasped, "Can you believe that? I was faster than Merlin! I was faster than you!"  
"And I bet you were faster than Hermione." Harry added.  
Ron groaned. "Oh, _Hermione_. I should have bet money, damn it."  
Harry rolled his eyes. "Is that all you can think about?"  
"Yep." Ron said automatically. "Now, what's the time?"  
Harry checked his watch. "Four o'clock. You mastered the Animagus transformation in just under two hours."  
If you could burst from swelling with pride, Ron would have been just a few scraps of skin, drifting to the ground.  
"And I want another go." Harry added. "I think I could have finished it if I hadn't have stopped."  
"Yeah," Ron answered, off in a world of his own. "Sure, I'll keep watch. Do you know what I could do with this power, Harry? Harry?"  
Harry was unable to answer; already half changing into a bird made it easier the second time, which meant Harry was changing quickly, and already changed to the halfling form that he had stopped at before. Now, he was transforming more slowly, his mouth bulging out to form a hard beak.  
Feathers flowed over his body and head, black and white, while the rest of his bones became as light and hollow as his wings.  
He was shrinking, and his feet were changing, growing talons and curving, yellow toes.  
Realising he had finished his conversion, Harry closed his eyes again. _'Animagus Activus,' _he said to himself, feeling an urge to test his wings. _'Animagus Activus. Animagus Activus. Animagus Activ-' _Feeling a jolt and a tingling sensation, he knew he had turned the 'switch' on, and could now transform at will.  
You look tasty. said Ron cheerfully. You'd just about make a mouthful.   
I can understand you, you know. Harry retorted. People in Animagus form can understand each other.   
There was silence. Oops.   
Just don't eat me. Harry spread his wings and admired them, So, when are we going to tell Hermione? And what are we going to do with these forms?   
Ron stretched his paws. This is just so cool. We should tell Hermione straight away, or she'll moan about us keeping secrets even more. And I was thinking we could sneak out at night; go into Hogsmeade, the Forbidden Forest, those sort of places.   
Suppose so. Harry said thoughtfully, And we can ask Herm' whether she knows why we changed so quickly. That's one thing I'd like to know.   
Yeah, and we can find out what she's changing into, and whether she's managed it yet. How far along are we meant to be?   
On the first lesson, we should be learning how to think correctly. There shouldn't be the slightest change. A thought struck Harry. Maybe we're just really good. Some kind of natural talent for it.   
Maybe, Ron sounded doubtful, but even with a talent, we shouldn't do it on the first go. You have a talent for flying, but you weren't the best on Earth on your first flight. In the school, yeah, but you still had to learn flying tricks. With talent, we'd just transform within a few months, not hours.   
There goes that idea. Want to change back? It's not as though we can sneak out in daytime.   
I guess so. Where would Hermione be?   
Easy. Harry said promptly. She'll be getting help from McGonagall. She won't go against the rules and do it without permission, and she wants to beat us. The fastest way would be to be trained by an Animagus and transfiguration teacher.   
For all the good it'll do her. snorted Ron, and started to change back. With the transformation completed, it only took two seconds to change back. Harry did the same. "I'm going to have to try to fly next time I change. And you should try running. It'll be completely different on four legs, with the joints different.  
Ron winced. "Good point. That's going to hurt if I try to move them like human legs."  
"Should we tell one of the teachers? i mean, it is illegal."  
Ron shook his head. "No _way_, mate. If any of the teachers knew, they'd spoil all our fun. Do you really think they'll let us go out and sneak around the grounds?"  
"You have a point." Harry sighed, opening the classroom door and walking out. Ron tagged along by his side. "Transfiguration room?"  
"Let's try the Gryffindor tower first. I want to put my book back."  
Just after six minutes later, they were back at Gryffindor tower, ignoring the Fat Lady's moans about 'never before having such a silly password, you ought to ashamed of yourselves . . .' and drooping the Animagus book into Harry's trunk.  
As they returned down into the common room, Harry saw Ginny sitting reading by the window.  
"Ginny, have you seen Hermione?" Harry asked, almost running over. Ginny looked up from her book. "Yeah. She looked really angry about something, though. Have you fallen out?"  
"I think she's fallen out with Ron," Harry said honestly, "but I dunno about me."  
Ginny gave Ron a reproving look. "Anything to do with Krum?"  
"No!" Ron cried, exasperated. His eyes suddenly narrowed in suspicion. "Why? Was she talking about him? Did she visit him over the holidays?"  
"Oh, for goodness' sake. No, she didn't say a word about him, and no, she didn't visit him. I just thought it would be the most likely thing for you to have an argument over."  
Before Ron could add Ginny to his list of 'People I've Fallen Out With', Harry butted in. "Do you know where Ginny is right now?"  
"She said she'd be going to see McGonagall later. Didn't say what for, though." She looked back at her book. "She's in the girl's dorm right now.."  
"Thanks Gin'." Ron said, sounding relieved. "Are we allowed to go in?"  
"No, but if you're going to be making up with her, then I suppose so."  
"Brill', thanks again." Ron grabbed Harry's arm and started dragging him back up the spiral stairs. "Let's go, Harry!"  
"Let go, Ron!"

~ ~ ~

Finally managing to free himself from Ron's grasp, Harry followed him the rest of the way. Stopping five turns of the stairs up, they entered the corridor that led off from it. To the right was the boy's fifth year dorms; they took the left to the other circular room.  
Entering, they saw Hermione sitting on her bed, reading the book from the library. She looked up as they entered.  
"Oh, it's you two." she snapped, "Come to apologise?"  
Harry answered quickly as Ron opened his mouth. "Yeah, and something else as well."  
Hermione glared at them, but her expression softened. "Fine, you're forgiven. What's the other thing?"  
Harry glanced at Ron. Ron glanced at Harry. "Well. . ." Harry began.  
"We sort of. . . read about how to become an Animagus. . ."  
"And we went and started training. . ." Harry added, "And then. . ."  
There was an uncomfortable silence. Hermione broke it. "And then? What happened?"  
Ron made a swift reply. "How about, we'll tell you what happened if you tell us what you keep writing about, and why you wanted to talk to Sirius."  
Hermione frowned. "Did something _really _important happen?"  
Harry nodded, and Hermione seemed convinced. "Alright then. I'm writing a book."  
Harry and Ron stared. "A. . . book?" Ron said cautiously.  
"What kind of book?" Harry ventured. Hermione gave a dazzling smile, and produced her notebook from under her pillow. "A Revised Edition of Hogwarts, A History." she declared. "I've been taking notes on what new things to include. There's going to be a section on Quidditch - that was missing from the old version, and a section on house-elves; I've been working all holiday, and the first draft should be ready in a while."  
Harry was, needless to say, quite impressed. "Great! But why'd you need to talk to Sirius?"  
Hermione stuffed the notebook back under her pillow. "In the introduction, I'm comparing the school to how it was a few decades back, so I needed to find a student. But I didn't want to ask a teacher or parent in case they thought writing a book was a stupid idea."  
"There's no way that's a stupid idea, Herm'!" Ron insisted, "That's brilliant! The old version must have been written a decade ago, and it's way too boring."  
"Eight years, actually." Hermione corrected, but she looked pleased. "Well, anyway, I'm thinking about becoming a marbled polecat; they're really beautiful. Is it something about your chosen Animagus forms that you wanted to tell me?"  
"Not. . . quite." Harry took a breath. "You know how becoming an Animagus takes years?"  
"Of course." Hermione held up the book on her lap. According to the front cover, it was '_An Introduction to the Abilities and History of the Animagus_' by Geromard Tween. "This books says that the fastest someone ever became an Animagus was eight weeks; that was Merlin. The second fastest was six months; and _that_ was Dumbledore."  
"He's an Animagus?" Ron said in interest. "What animal?"  
"It doesn't say, but don't try to change the subject. I've told you what I was doing, now it's your turn." Hermione gave them The Look, and closed the book.  
"Okay, then" Harry sighed. "Just don't get angry, or hysterical or anything." Hermione nodded her assent.  
"Ron and I went to the Charms room to try and learn. Ron chose a fox, and I chose a falcon."  
"Yes?" Hermione said, becoming interested.  
"So, we went in, and we tried to become our animals - and we did it."  
Harry had not believed such a silence was possible; a grain of dust being dropped would have echoed around the room. Hermione finally found her voice. "You did _it _?" she whispered. "You became your animals? But that's - that's impossible. Completely impossible. You must have had three hours at most."  
"Two." Ron said, making Harry feel strangely guilty. "We changed in two hours, and said the charm. We're Animagus'."  
Then, with a shriek of pure delight, Hermione leapt up and hugged them both.

~ ~ ~

It took nearly a quarter of an hour to detach Hermione from them, but finally they managed to. Judging by Hermione's reaction, she was not only not jealous or disbelieving, she was also pleased and excited. "Two hours," she kept giggling, "A new record. That's faster than _Merlin himself _!"  
Ron looked quite proud of himself.  
"You _have _to tell me everything. Now." she gasped, collapsing on the bed. "How did you do it? What do your fox and your falcon look like?"  
Harry looked at Ron, who shrugged. The pair sat down on the bed that was facing Hermione's. "Well, I don't think we did anything special." Harry began. "I think we must have some kind of natural ability for it, because we just _did _it. I don't think we've discovered a new way to do it or anything. That's the thing we can't explain."  
"But, your question about forms, we can." Ron interrupted. "But I think you'd understand more, if I did this." He smiled cheekily, and within a few seconds, a silver-tailed, red fox stood in his place. Harry held Hermione back as she tried, unsuccessfully, to launch herself at him again.  
Ron turned around, letting her see all round him, and changed back. "Your turn, mate." he said to Harry, motioning to come out. "The spotlight awaits."  
Getting up, Harry walked to where Ron was standing, who, in turn, moved over to the bed.  
'Change.' he told himself, allowing the image of a peregrine falcon to come to mind. Suddenly, he was shooting downwards, and his arms grew out, as feathers washed over him. In just two seconds, the boy was a bird.  
Hermione gazed at him. "This is amazing," she breathed. Her face grew stern. "You _are_ going to tell Dumbledore, aren't you? And sign up as registered Animagus'?"  
Ron groaned. "Come on, Herm', how are we meant to have any fun if people know what we are?"  
Harry shifted back. "How about the day you publish your book, we sign up and tell Dumbledore."  
"But my book could take a year to be written!" Hermione exclaimed, standing up. "You have to be joking."  
Harry cocked an eyebrow. "Will you be telling anyone about your book?"  
Hermione glared at him. "Alright then. When I have it published or get my rejection letter, you both sign up. Is it fun?" she asked, suddenly wistful.  
"You have _no _idea." Ron said, excited. "We'll help you become an Animagus. What does a thingy look like?"  
"A marbled polecat." Hermione amended. She moved over to her trunk and opened it, searching through the heaps of books. Ron waited, and Harry moved over to look inside. "Hermione? Have you put a Never-Fill charm on your trunk?"  
She didn't look up. "No, I just tripled the space. It still has a bottom. I used the same spell Mr Weasley used on the car." She moved aside a book on magical plants. "Here it is!" she said, bringing out 'Wildlife of Britain and Europe'. She flicked a few pages into the book. "Here, in the mammal's section." She showed the page to Ron and Harry. There was picture of an otter-like creature. It's paws and stomach were black, and it's face was white with a black stripe across the eyes. The tip of it's tail was black as well, but it's back and main tail were a marbled cream and light brown.  
"Marbled Polecat." Ron read, "Head and body, thirty to thirty-eight centimetres, tail fifteen to twenty. Found in South-East England. Eats lizards, reptiles and small mammals. Yuk."  
"I don't think it really says 'yuk', Ron." Harry grinned. He took the book off Ron and returned it to Hermione. "What markings are you going to have?"  
Hermione smiled. "The marbled back is going to be in a spider-web pattern." Ron looked disturbed with that idea, but wisely said nothing.  
"I'm going to start training tomorrow, if I have time after homework." she explained, "Although I think I'll get proper training from Professor McGonagall, rather than do it on my own."  
"Great." Harry said cheerfully, as Hermione put the wildlife book back in her trunk. He looked at his watch. "It's seven o'clock." he informed his friends. "There's two hours until the curfew. What'll we do 'til then?"  
"We could revise." suggested Hermione.  
Naturally, the boys ignored the idea of studying. "Let's try the Fortune Finder out again." Ron said, "If it's not going to be detailed in telling my future, then I think I'd like to try it. Hermione?"  
After a minute, Hermione gave in, still complaining about 'superstitious nonsense'.  
Harry retrieved the Fortune Finder and some pieces of parchment from his room, while Ron asked Ginny for her cards.  
Returning a few minutes after Ron, Harry settled down next to Hermione. Ron sat on the opposite bed.  
"Who's going first?" Harry asked. Ron answered quickly that he would.  
"I think we'll just do a one card pick for now. Harry said, holding the deck out to Ron. He took it, and shuffled the cards. Before he picked one, he suddenly looked up at Harry. "Harry," he said slowly, "wasn't your card Death? Stuff like 'making way for the new, transformation' and all?"  
"Yeah, why?"  
Ron grinned. "Transformation, you git! You got your 'new' thing, didn't you? You transformed. You're an Animagus!"  
Hermione scoffed loudly. "Honestly, Ron. It's just a coincidence."  
"Probably," Ron offered, "but it would be nice to think it was something more. Tarot is meant to be the most reliable branch of Divination, anyway."  
He ran his eyes over the pack of cards, and finally picked one. He looked at it. "Oh."  
"What did you get?" Harry asked, craning over to see.  
"An upright Fool." Ron groaned, showing him. Hermione hid a smile.  
Harry inserted the card and some parchment into the Fortune Finder, fumbling a little as he tried to find the holes in the sleek box.  
An answer shot out right away.  
Grabbing it before Ron, Harry read it out. "The Fool, Upright. Meaning: New beginnings, new adventures, new opportunities, unlimited possibilities, pleasure, passion, thoughtlessness, rashness."  
"Well, we've got the thoughtlessness and rashness down." Hermione said dryly, and had the decency to look apologetic when Ron glared at her.  
Inserting the card back into the pack, Hermione shuffled it and selected a card. She selected one and glanced at it. "Ace of Wands, upright." she said. "I suppose that's good, right?"  
Ron nodded. "Bill said that upright ones are usually good luck, and upside down cards are usually bad. One or two of them work opposite, I think."  
Hermione put the items in this time, and got ready to whack Harry's hands away - she did so, and caught the paper as it was thrown back out.  
"Ace of Wands, Upright: A creative beginning, a new business venture, a profitable journey, an inheritance, a new career, a birth in the family."  
"Wow, Herm', I think that's a real prediction." gaped Ron, "The business venture, profitable journey, career and creative beginning all fit in with your book."  
"He's right." Harry added. "I think you may have picked a real one."  
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Your turn, Harry."  
Giving up trying to convince Hermione, Harry shuffled the card back into the pack. He decided on one near the bottom, and drew it from the pack.  
"Four of Wands, reverse." he read. "New relationships possible, new goals, new ambitions, action." He looked at his two friends. "Sounds interesting."  
"Sounds cool." Ron adjoined. "New relationships. Going to get yourself a girlfriend?"  
Harry flushed a hot red and Ron started to snigger. Harry heard Hermione scold Ron for 'embarrassing poor Harry', but his mind was somewhere else. Was the new relationship with Cho Chang? Someone other girl? Was it even a relationship like that, or just a new friend?  
Shaking the thoughts from his mind, he realised Ginny had just entered the room. "You two were up here ages." Ginny said, "What did you want those cards for, anyway?" She walked further into the room. "Oh, it's the Fortune Thingy. Can I have a go?"  
Ron groaned. "Everyone wants a go now. Why couldn't you have one on the train?"  
"Why couldn't you?" Hermione shot back. "Of course you can, Ginny." she said, and held the cards out to her.  
Ginny re-shuffled them, faster than the other people and took one of the cards. She handed it to Harry, barely looking at it, and Harry put it in, making sure it was the way up it had been selected. A few seconds later, Harry picked up the parchment. "Ten of Cups Upright: A happy family life, true friendships, lasting happiness. I think that's the best one I've read so far." Harry smiled, making Ginny blush. Ron gave a small wolf-whistle, and Hermione punched him lightly on the arm. Giving a squeak of thanks, Ginny ran from the room.  
Harry glanced once more at his watch. "We should be getting back. We have ten minutes left before nine." He pointed out to Ron.  
Saying good-night to Hermione, the boys left for their own dorm, passing Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil, who were gossiping about 'how wonderful' it was to have Divination first thing in the morning.  
"Are you going to take the Fortune Finder to Divination?" Ron asked, clambering onto his bed, and pulling the covers up around him.  
"No, I don't think so." Harry yawned, and pulled out a quill. Dipping it in some ink, he brought out all the predictions of the Fortune Finder.  
He didn't know why, but he felt compelled to write the dates on the papers, and who had drawn them, and possible ideas for their meanings; the Animagus form and the book. Placing them in his trunk, he fell into bed, and drifted into sleep.

~ ~ ~

Deciding that Monday was never going to be his favourite day with all the terrible lessons they had, Harry ran to the the breakfast table.  
Slipping into the empty seat next to Ron, Harry hissed, "Why didn't you wake me up?"  
"I did," said Ron, picking up his mug of pumpkin juice. "And you said 'Right Ron, I'll be up in a minute'. That was ten minutes ago." He took a swig of his drink.  
"Oh." Harry reached out for the tongs to pick up some bacon with, but was stopped by a sneering voice. "Poor Potter. You were probably spending ten minutes working out how to get up."  
Harry and Ron leapt up immediately, Hermione sighing in despair.  
"I'm surprised _you_ know how to get up, Malfoy." Harry snapped back. "You were probably spending the last two days trying to find a way to get off the train."  
Hermione snorted into her mug, and Draco flushed. "You'd better watch it Potter. The Dark Lord's already taken one kiddie, don't want to be the next now, do you?"  
"Why do you think that? Does Voldemort have nothing better to do than settle your scores?" Harry retorted. "Where are your flunkies, anyway? Did they get lost, or just grow a brain cell each and realise you're a pompous git?"  
Ron was looking impressed at Harry's barrage of insults, and Malfoy was just looking angry. He recovered himself enough to mutter. "You'll end up the same as Diggory.", before leaving for the Slytherin table.  
Fred and George looked astonished and delighted at Harry's display.  
"Good one, mate!" Fred exclaimed, slapping Harry on the back as they passed, having finished breakfast. Harry and Ron sat back down, Harry feeling slightly embarrassed. "That was brilliant." Hermione said, trying to shut up a laughing Ron. "It looks like you can think really quickly on an empty stomach."  
"Well, I don't want one anymore." Harry replied. "Pass the rolls."  
Hermione gave him the bowl, and Harry set to work buttering one.  
"I wonder where Crabbe and Goyle _were_ though." she mused. "It's really strange that Malfoy and his cronies should disappear for a couple of days, then have Malfoy turn up but without the two others."  
"Maybe he killed them." Ron suggested innocently, and dodged a light smack to the head.  
"Well, it _is _weird." Hermione said, standing up. "I've finished. See you in Divination."  
Ron and Harry choked on their food. "What?!" Harry cried hoarsely. "You're taking Divination?"  
"I thought you quit for good?" Ron agreed, in shock.  
Hermione looked annoyed. "Don't you know anything about how the school does O.W.Ls?"  
Harry and Ron shook their heads. Hermione heaved a sigh. "The short version is, because I quit Muggle Studies properly, by going to Professor Dumbledore, I don't have to do it for O.W.Ls. However, because I didn't quit Divination properly, I just walked out, it's still on my schedule, which means I have to take it for O.W.Ls. I can't cancel it now, it's too late."  
"Why don't you just skip class, and not do the Divination exam?" Ron queried, shoving more bacon in his mouth.  
Hermione now looked outraged. "And fail? You've got to be joking. How would it look, every other exam passed, and naught percent on Divination? Besides, if I take it, I can get a maximum of four extra O.W.Ls."  
Harry was lost. "How? We have ten minutes before lessons start, can't you explain?"  
"Fine." said Hermione, sitting back down. "You can take each O.W.L in one of three levels - Lower, Intermediate and Higher. For the first two, if you pass, you get a single O.W.L. If you get Higher, you get two. Divination and Defence Against the Dark Arts are split into two sections. For Defence, it's split into Creatures and Curses, so there's a maximum of four O.W.Ls to get. With Divination, it's the same, although you choose two types of Fortune Telling from a list. So, if I can catch up, I can get an extra four O.W.Ls."  
Ron looked thankful. "Well, that's good news then. As thanks for sticking up with that old bat, we can get at least two O.W.Ls, instead of one."  
"That's only if you pass." Hermione corrected. "But it means you have more chance of getting one, though." She stood up again. "We still have eight minutes. I'm going now."  
"See you there. Save us a couple of tables." Ron waved her off. As she left, he turned back to Harry. "Well, that'll draw the attention away from you, Harry. Trelawney'll be so busy insulting Herm's 'lack of inner eye', that she'll forget to have you snuff it a couple of hundred times."  
"'Harry!'" Harry said, in a spooky voice, "'Your time is running short. You will die of exam stress, Harry! Beware, the Grim of low scores!'"  
Ron, for the second time that day, was laughing hard enough to make tears run down his cheeks.

~ ~ ~

Trooping up to Divination, Harry and Ron listened to and laughed at Seamus Finnigan's and Dean Thomas' impressions of the Overgrown Stick Insect Of Doom.  
Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil tutted at them each time, and soon the boys were getting the urge to throw them off the many flights of stairs they went up, which they managed to resist.  
By the time they entered the classroom, they were five minutes late, and Hermione was the only student there. "It was pretty easy to save you a seat." she remarked, as they sat down, Ron to her left and Harry to Ron's left.  
"Do not apologise for being late, my dears," Trelawney said mystically, "for I saw that you would be late, and prepared accordingly."  
"In other words, she realised you weren't here yet and decided to wait for you." Hermione muttered to Ron and Harry, who had to cover their mouths to stop laughing.  
Trelawney, unfortunately, caught sight of them, and thought they were shocked at her 'Sight'. "Yes, I had a Vision." she trilled dramatically. "And I knew just what to do."  
"A vision of us being late, what excitement." Harry muttered under his breath.  
"I decided," she announced, "that the few first lessons shall be to go over old Divination methods, to refresh your memory. Crystal gazing, tea leaves, palmistry and astrology."  
There were a few groans from the students.  
"I know, my dears, it is a pity, but we _will_ be starting a new method afterwards."  
Lavender and Parvati perked up, and looked slightly more cheerful, while the rest of the class gave despairing looks at each other. Trelawney glided over to the shelves.  
"Each of you," she said, "Will select a partner, and each pair will take a crystal ball. You will take it in turns to see Visions."  
("Or fog." Ron sniggered)  
"You may begin."  
"Partners?" Harry asked Ron, looking over to him.  
"As long as you get the ball, yeah." Ron yawned, watching Neville Longbottom, who had partnered up with Hermione, lift the heavy ball.  
Getting up, Harry collected the wanted item from the shelf, surprised at the weight - he'd never held one before; usually they were already on the tables.  
He returned over to his table, and set the ball down. "I'll go first." he told Ron, who replied with, "Good for you."  
Gazing into the murky depths for the next quarter of an hour made Harry realise that the only thing he would be seeing was a lot of blobby white stuff and his reflection.  
"Here." Harry said, getting up. "Swap seats. It's your turn now."  
"Did you see anything?" Ron asked drowsily, taking himself up off the table, where he had been sleeping.  
"Well, I saw that I wouldn't see anything."  
"Circular logic." the other boy pointed out, and took Harry's seat. "Okay . . I see a crystal ball. . ."  
"And _inside_ the ball?"  
"Nothing of interest." Ron said, and went back to staring.  
Five minutes later, Ron gave up, and played against Harry in a thrilling game of 'Stone, Parchment, Knife' under the table. It seemed that Ron was as good at this as he was at chess; he had some type of bizarre luck that made him win eleven out the fourteen times they played.  
Harry forfeited the final one, as Trelawney rose from marking the third year students' death predictions.  
"And now, my dears." she said, blinking owlishly. "I trust you have all finished?"  
There were murmurings of assent from the boys and Hermione, and vigorous head nodding from Parvati and Lavender.  
"Very well, then. Those who were not gazing should have been studying the formations of tea leaves and their meanings. One of you will put the crystal balls back, while the other will take two cups of tea. I had this already planned, so they are in the cupboard. No, Mr Longbottom, I put warming charms on them, they are not cold."  
Harry took the crystal ball back to the shelf, silently complaining about why they had to get them out for half an hour, and then put them away again.  
Returning to the table, Ron was already sitting down.  
"You go first and get the Grim over with." Ron told him, handing Harry a cup. Taking it, Harry swilled it round three times, and started to drink. When he had finished, he pulled a face. "I don't think she did put warming charms on it at all. It's lukewarm."  
Ron finished his tea at the same time. "My tea's perfectly warm. A bit too hot, actually. Are you sure?"  
"I think I know what 'warm' tastes like. Okay, give me your cup." Harry said, passing his own over to Ron.  
Ron took it, giving his cup to Harry. "I'll go first." Ron said, consulting his book. "Okay, you've got a big round stain at the bottom. . . that means problems with family. . . well, that can't be right."  
"Anything else?" Harry coaxed, opening his own book.  
"Yeah, you've got one that looks like bird - maybe it's something to do with your form - no, wait, it means 'hopes will not be realised'. Got any hopes?"  
Harry shook his head. "Nope."  
"Well, I think it's proof that I'm not a Seer." Ron sighed. "How's Herm' doing?"  
Harry glanced over at Hermione and Neville. The boy was looking terrified, as Hermione told him something about his tea leaves, that obviously wasn't good news.  
"She's fine." Harry told Ron.  
"Well, at least someone's doing okay. Do mine now."  
Harry looked at Ron's cup. "Aright, you've got three shapes. There's a sort of square one, which means. . . hang on. . . yeah, that's right. It means 'disappointment in a current love'. So unless you've got a secret girlfriend, I think that one's wrong.  
"The second is a weird, misshapen blob; which is. . . okay, it isn't in the book. And the third one is a ring going around the bottom. That one means you're going to win a fight. Well, that's good news, now we can challenge Malfoy to a wizard's duel."  
"Nah, it's only for me, not y-"  
There was a sudden crash as Neville dropped Hermione's teacup, which smashed on the floor.  
"Bet Trelawney didn't See that one coming." Harry muttered to Ron.  
The professor swooped down with a dustpan and brush.  
"Or maybe she did." Ron replied. Harry sneaked a look at Hermione and Neville. Hermione was scolding a terrified Neville for 'believing in unjustified, superstitious nonsense' and telling him that a silly prediction was no reason for him lose his nerve and break things. Harry wasn't sure whether Neville was scared of the prediction, or of a seething Hermione; it was probably both.  
"What was it, my dears?" Trelawney said, magicing the broken remnants away.  
Neville still looked scared, but he managed to stutter, "Hermione said that - that I would be hurt later today, by a creature and ice.  
"She's probably right, Neville." Dean said seriously, managing to hold all but the tiniest of giggles. "We've got Care of Magical Creatures after Lunch. They'll probably throw you in the lake or something."  
Neville gave a small squeak of terror, and Trelawney gazed down upon him. "Well, I wouldn't take that prediction _too _seriously." she said, then turning to Hermione and giving a small sniff. "It has been known for Divination to be wrong, for those with a distinct lack of Inner Eye."  
Hermione flared instantly. "Perhaps you should blame Neville for _drinking _it wrong." she snapped. "Because I read it just as the book told me to, and that's how it came out. Perhaps _you _would like to read Neville's tea leaves, and tell us all what they _really_ say?" She thrust the cup out to the professor, and glared at her.  
Professor Trelawney took the cup without a second glance at her. "Certainly, I shall. If only to set things straight. . ." she lamented, and turned the cup this way and that in her hands. "Ah, I see. You must have mistaken the Book, meaning intelligence, for a Club, meaning an attack. And this, which I suppose you thought was the Tiger, implicating a dangerous animal; it's actually a Cat, showing affection and company. This one does look rather like a Snowflake, but it is, in fact, a Cobweb, showing entrapment.." She smiled at Hermione, who seemed in anything, to have gotten more furious. "So you see, my dear, it shows not an attack, but intelligence, company and, unfortunately, an entrapment. Perhaps," she said, turning back to Neville, "you should beware a girl who appears to be a friend, but really wishes to set you up." Giving the cup back to Hermione, she swept on. "If anyone would like help with their cups, feel free to ask me."  
Neville breathed a sigh of relief, and settled back down in his seat.  
"I don't believe it!" Hermione whispered loudly to Ron and Harry. "I k now what I read, that cow's just out to make me look bad because I walked out."  
"We know Herm', just calm down." Ron whispered, leaning over. Harry looked in his cup. "At least you actually managed to fit your predictions together." he said. "Ours were rubbish."  
The bell soon rang to signal the end of the single lesson, which meant they only had to put up with another hour of mind-numbing - sorry, interesting predictions.  
After tea leaves, they continued on to palmistry, where Trelawney told Harry that his life line was astoundingly short.  
Thirty minutes after that, they were finishing off with astrology. Harry, as a Leo, learnt that he would be dying very soon, courtesy of a freak accident - or so Trelawney said.  
For ten minutes, Ron checked Harry's future, while Harry checked Ron's, ignoring the sounds of furious muttering and occasional whimpers from Hermione and Neville's table.  
"Your horoscope for today." Ron declared, earning a whack to the arm. "Okay, okay, I'm starting. Well, early this week, due to the influence of Venus, you'll be lucky in love. However, there'll be problems after that, because of Mercury in the fourth house. You'll achieve a lot midweek, and your luck continues at the end of the week with excellent business. I guess in your case, it would be something to do with money." he amended hastily, putting the parchment down. "What's going to happen to me?"  
Harry held up his predictions and read through. "Alright; at the start of the week, you're going to have an awkward emotional event, since Neptune and Mercury are going to align. Following on, the problem will be solved, but you should stick to normal habits. Finally, you'll have some good news at the end of the week."  
There was a brief silence.  
"Those really sucked." Ron said honestly.  
"Yep." sighed Harry, putting his parchment down. "Well, we've got a few minutes until we switch Divination methods again. Want to talk about something?"  
Ron sniggered. "Yeah, like why Hermione seems to have it in for poor Neville."  
Harry turned to look at the pair. Neville was staring in horror at Hermione's parchment, while she muttered things like 'completely unreliable. . . what a fraud. . .' .  
Sighing heavily, Harry turned back. "She's at it again." he groaned, "So, what do you want to do?"  
Ron yawned, and leaned back in his chair. "I dunno."  
They didn't have to decide; their time was up at that moment, and Trelawney rose to speak. "Now, although we also studied Pyromancy, it is a subject not usually taken, and so we will not be revising it. We have thirty minutes of class left, so you can make a start on your homework; on page two hundred and twelve, you will find the section on Tarot readings. We will be learning Tarot next lesson, so I want you to learn the three basic readings of one card, three cards and ten cards. You do not have to learn the cards or their meanings."  
Sitting down, she continued with her work.  
Harry blinked. "That was. . . strange."  
"Did she actually have anything _planned_ for this lesson?" Ron wondered aloud. He pulled his bag up from beside him and fished around in it, finally bringing up some writing material. "Best get cracking." he told Harry, who shrugged and did the same.  
He flicked over the pages until he came to chapter thirty two. Picking up his pen, he started to take notes; the one card was simple - focusing on a question and picking a card. The three card spread was harder - they stood for past, present and future, and had to be picked and moved into a particular order. The ten card spread was more complicated; there were different meaning for each card, including the far and near past, the far and near future, the asker, the problem, the solution; they had to be in a certain pattern, or the reading would be incorrect. Just reading about it, made Harry's head hurt.

~ ~ ~

By the time that break came, and the Gryffindors left Divination, nearly half the students had minor migraines. Even Hermione, who seemed to be able to soak up information from twenty books without getting tired, was complaining of a headache and sore eyes. "Well, at least I have it memorised." she grumbled, resting in the common room. Harry looked up from his Divination book in amazement. "You memorised all of it?"  
"No, I was lying. Of _course_ I memorised it, that's what I _said _." she moaned, moving her head into a more comfortable position on the cushion.  
"Can you help me with mine, then?" Ron asked, laying his quill down. "I've got the first two, but I've only done three of the ten card layout."  
"When my headache's gone." Hermione relented. "Maybe at lunch, or when lessons have finished."  
Ron scowled. "What if we have more homework by then? And besides, I thought you were going to try you-know-what after lessons."  
Leaving the pair to argue, Harry continued reading. He had already memorised the ten cards, and now had only to remember what order they went in. 'Far past, near past, problem, solution, asker, near future, far future, others, surroundings, and conclusion.' he repeated to himself, finally getting them in the right order. "Finished." he said, throwing the book down. "We've got twenty minutes left. I'm going to go down to the kitchens and see Dobby."  
Ron groaned, "I don't know how you two do it..", and continued on, while Hermione just nodded.  
After putting his book away, Harry slipped through the portrait hole and out of the common room, heading downstairs.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I own Wyverns, the plot, Sterling, giant blobs from Neptu- wait, that's not right. Sorry. Anyhow, I don't own Harry or his friends. Yet. *Plots J. K Rowling's death*. Muah ha ha!!

**Chapter 6:  
Of Weriiot and Wyverns.**

Friendships begin with liking or gratitude - roots that can be pulled up.  
~ George Elliot (Mary Ann Evans)

To get to the kitchens from the Gryffindor common room, meant going down eight flights of stairs, through twenty seven corridors, through the Great Hall, and then two corridors on, to a picture of a bowl of fruit. Harry went as far as the empty Great Hall easily enough, but was stopped when he saw what was posted on one of the walls.  
There were sign-up sheets.  
Abandoning his quest to see Dobby, Harry changed direction and headed towards the parchment. The first declared itself to be for Curses classes, to be taken at five to seven o'clock on Wednesday evenings. The second was Karate, at the same time on Friday evenings. The third was a Duelling club, at identical times on Monday. A few names were scribbled underneath each title; it seemed that only a few Wizard borns were taking Karate.  
Harry briefly thought about what to do. A Duelling club; that would be useful, as would the Curses class. Karate lessons didn't seem to be as useful, although it would be good defence if Malfoy got too cocky.  
Reading the instructions, he learnt what to do. Taking his wand out of his pocket, he held it up against the Curses sheet. "Harry Potter." he told it, and the name filled in one of the boxes with an elegant flourish. Doing the same with the Duelling, he left the Karate blank.  
He put his wand back, thoughts such as 'why the heck did I do that?' running through his head.  
Something felt. . . different. Unusual. It wasn't the Imperious curse, he knew that; the feeling was completely different, and he could throw it off within seconds. No, this feeling was of something missing.  
Heaving a sigh, Harry gave up his guesses, and checked his watch. There were only ten minutes left until the next lesson, not nearly enough to visit Dobby. And not long enough to get to the next lesson.  
Turning to the direction he came, Harry broke into a sprint. 

~ ~ ~ 

By the time Harry had ran through twenty seven corridors, up eight flights of stairs, got his bag, packed it, ran outside, remembered he'd forgotten his quill, ran back, ran out the common room (again), and got to his History of Magic lesson, he was six minutes late.  
"Five points from Gryffindor, Mr Potter." Binns droned tonelessly, turning back to the chalkboard. Harry stammered an apology, and took his seat between Hermione and Ron, who seemed to be asleep. "Where were you?" Hermione hissed, "He's already covered the first few years of the Ministry of Magic. You missed the creation of the Ministry as well!"  
"Sorry." mouthed Harry, unpacking his bag. "I got caught up. They've got sign up sheets for the new classes down in the hall." This news seemed to make Hermione perk up. "Did you sign up for any?"  
"Yeah, Curses and Duelling. They all start next week. You?"  
"I'm thinking of doing Curses, but I won't have that much time if I'm doing Astronomy as well." she said, ignoring the lecture on the Ministry. "What have you got after this?"  
"Single potions. Then double Magical Creatures, and double Herbology."  
Hermione looked at him pityingly. "Snape next lesson? I've got another History of Magic lesson, then two lessons with and Ron, and ending with double Charms."  
The rest of the fifty-three minutes dragged on. Ron stayed asleep for nearly the entire lesson, and Harry fought hard to stay awake. Hermione seemed to be the only one that was unaffected. Taking notes on every word the professor said, she had the facts and early history of the Ministry implanted in her brain within seconds.  
The bell finally rang, making Ron jump out of his stupor and fall over, which at least made the lesson's ending interesting. "Those of you who have to go to other lessons, go now, and the rest of you stay." Binns said, hovering above the floor. "Your homework is - someone help Mr Weasley get up - your homework is four scrolls of parchment on the reasons for, and effects of, the creation of the Ministry, due on Wednesday."  
Ron, now up, practically threw his belongings into his bag and fled the room. Harry took a bit more care and time packing his things, and left. Hermione gave the pair a small wave as they departed.  
Neville passed Harry in the corridor, running as fast as he could. "Come on Harry, Snape will take points off. We're already late." he gasped, turning around the corner and out of sight. Finally understanding the reason why Ron had fled, Harry raced down the hall, finally making it to the classroom.  
By the time he arrived, Ron and Neville had already entered. Flinging the door open, he ran inside and own the stone stairs.  
There were five Slytherins (unfortunately including Draco Malfoy) seated at the desks, and Ron and Neville were sitting at the back of the room, talking to each other. Snape was nowhere in sight. Marvelling at his luck, Harry took his place next to Ron. "Where's Snape?" he asked, throwing his bag down beside him.  
"No-one knows." Neville said earnestly. "The Slytherins say they know, but you can see they're just as confused as we are."  
"He was here this morning though." Ron added, "I saw him at breakfast."  
Harry shrugged. "At least he can't take points off us for being late. That would be a bit hypocritical."  
"He probably will, though." Ron pointed out, when the door swung open to reveal a highly annoyed Snape. He stormed down the steps and behind the desk, shocking even the Slytherin students. "Is everyone here?" he barked, greasy hair flopping over his face.  
There were small nods from around the room, and Neville sank low in his chair. "Good." Snape snapped (excuse the pun), glaring at the students. "Today, you will be in pairs, one of you will making the poison Erissan, while the other shall make the antidote. The partners will be: Longbottom and Goyle; Weasley and Crabbe; Zabini and Parkinson; and Malfoy and Potter." He smirked evilly. "You shall be making the poison for your partner, so if the person making the antidote gets it wrong - they're in trouble. Those making the poison are Goyle, Crabbe, Parkinson and Malfoy. Have fun."  
Looking round at the other Gryffindors, Harry saw they had gone an ashen white. As the thought of Malfoy making a poison for him sunk in, he too turned a delightful shade. "Oh, bugger." he muttered. Picking up his belongings, he walked slowly over to Malfoy.  
"Hello, Potty." leered Malfoy, making room for him at the table. "You know, I haven't forgotten this morning."  
"Your memory's getting better then." Harry said dryly, throwing his bag down. Malfoy grinned. "You know, I was thinking 'what can I do to get revenge on Potty?'. And then this just pops right up. Useful, hm?"  
"If you poison me, there'll be Hell to pay." Harry warned, growing more nervous by the second. "You'll be expelled at the least."  
"And you'll be dead. But, hey, it all depends on whether you make the antidote the right way, so don't blame me if you get sick, or die."  
"I won't be blaming anyone if I'm dead." Harry said sharply, and opened his book. "Page one hundred and fourteen."  
Collecting his equipment, Harry brought it back to the table, and read the instructions through carefully. 'There's no way,.' he decided, 'that I'm going to get my antidote wrong, if I've got Malfoy making the poison.'  
Sneaking a glance at Malfoy, he saw the boy was chopping his Billywigs any old way, tossing them carelessly into the cauldron as soon as he had cut them. Glaring at him, Harry turned back and started to simmer the water in the cauldron. 

~ ~ ~

Just as Harry was adding the last ingredient (a bezoar), Snape finished stalking the classroom and accusing the Gryffindors of cheating or getting the instructions wrong. "Now," he said, sounding as if he was looking forward to the next stage, "you will be testing your poison and antidote. Once you have taken three drops of the poison, you will start to feel dizzy and light-headed. After three more drops of the antidote - if it works, which I highly doubt for Longbottom - you will feel normal again. Begin."  
Malfoy leaned over to Harry. "Have a nice afterlife." he whispered smugly, and handed him a vial of the bluish potion. Harry took it, and raised it to his lips, letting only three drops of the mixture fall in.  
Nothing was happening. Puzzled, he looked around the class to see if anyone else was the same. As he looked, he caught sight of Blaise Zabini's potion; a pale green.  
Putting his hand up, Harry's heart rate increased. "What is it, Potter?" Snape said, noticing Harry's hand, and sneering at him.  
"I think Malfoy did something wrong with the potion, professor. It's the wrong colour." Harry stated calmly, holding up the potion for inspection. The teacher strode up to the table, and peered into the vial. "Yes," he said finally, sounding disappointed with Malfoy. "It does appear to be made incorrectly. Did you drink any?" he asked.  
"Yes, three drops, sir." Harry said. "But I don't feel any different."  
All eyes in the class were on Harry and Malfoy now. Ron looked as if Harry were about to die, and Neville was biting his lip.  
"Go to the hospital wing." Snape said, sounding disappointed. He seemed to want to cause Harry as much pain as possible. "Malfoy, you take him. If you don't get back before the end of the lesson, you'll have to ask someone for the homework. Now go."  
Harry grabbed his bag and books and headed out, Malfoy trailing behind. Leaving the classroom, he waited beside the door for Malfoy. "You did that on purpose." he said angrily, "You deliberately made the wrong potion. What is it?"  
"Weriiot." Malfoy smirked. "I couldn't do anything fatal, but you're going to feel like hell for the next few hours. Least I could do, really."  
This news was slightly reassuring; at least he wouldn't be dropping dead from it; but could he really trust the Slytherin? "Let's go." he snapped, walking quickly to the Hospital Wing.

~ ~ ~

By the time Madame Pomfrey, the school nurse, had given Harry some pain-killers, explaining the potion would start affecting as soon as it entered his bloodstream which would take about half an hour, the potions lesson had ended and lunch had begun. Draco Malfoy had left him the moment they had entered the Hospital Wing, which meant Harry had to find Ron, to catch up with Potions work.  
Proceeding to the Great Hall, he stopped by the sign-up sheets. Most were nearly full now; Ron had signed up for the Curses class, but the Duelling club had already been filled. Malfoy, it seemed, was one of those who had managed to sign before the spaces were taken, which did nothing to relieve Harry of his bad mood, and the sickening feeling of the poison, as it started to take effect; the pain killer did nothing to relieve the nauseous sensation.  
Looking at the Gryffindor table, he spotted Ron and Hermione saving a seat for him. Slipping beside Hermione, the pair gave him a sympathetic look. "Did he poison you?" Ron asked, sympathy quickly turning to anger. "I can't believe Snape didn't take points away. Neville's antidote worked, but it turned him yellow, and Snape took away ten points. On our first school day! Then Malfoy tries to kill you, and he doesn't get punished. It's stupid. It's favouritism. Completely biased cr-"  
"That'll be enough, Ron." Hermione said sharply, cutting off Ron's tirade. She looked pointedly at Harry. "_Did _he poison you? Or did he just get it wrong?"  
"The answer is 'choice a'." Harry said moodily, glaring at the Slytherin table. "Trying to make me sick, the sneak."  
Ron gave a snort. "Would you expect any less from that git?"  
"Are you alright?" Hermione asked, "Madam Pomfrey had a cure, didn't she?"  
Harry shook his head. "The potion's meant to make you feel sick and cause pain. She gave me a pain-killer, but I feel like a hippogriff ran me over." Hermione gave him a pitying look. "Well, at least you missed the last few minutes of potions. From what I've heard, it was terrible." She smiled. "Good news, though!"  
Ron groaned. "She's been telling me about this for the last ten minutes, Harry. You don't want to know, believe me."  
Hermione ignored him, and sat up slightly straighter. "My first news is that I've finished the draft of the first few chapters."  
Harry nodded his approval. "Great! How many are there going to be?"  
"There'll be about thirty or thirty-five chapters, and maybe an introduction." Hermione explained, reaching for more ham. "The total length will probably be around seven-hundred pages."  
Ron made a show of fainting, to which Hermione replied by kicking him under the table. "Potatoes, Harry?" she said sweetly, offering the dish. "The second piece of news is that we have to stay behind after Transfiguration tomorrow. That's the two lessons just before lunch," she clarified hastily, seeing Harry's questioning look. "Professor McGonagall wants the Prefects to decide on times for Hogsmeade visits. Of course, fifth years and up can visit Hogsmeade any time, so I was thinking we could go this afternoon?"  
"I'm not doing anything, then." Ron volunteered. "Unless we get a lot of homework due for tomorrow," he refined swiftly, "but otherwise, I'm in."  
"Me too." agreed Harry, knowing it would be good to see the 'Weasley's Wizard Wheezes' shop. "Oh, Ron." he said, suddenly remembering. "What's the Potions homework? I need to catch up."  
"He went easy on us today. Two scrolls on the history of Erissan and how to make it. Of course, the method takes about a scroll anyway, so nothing to worry about. Due in last thing tomorrow." Ron said cheerfully, helping himself to the potatoes, which Harry had neglected to sample.  
"I don't have Potions until Wednesday afternoon." sighed Hermione gratefully. "What time do you you two have Astronomy lessons?"  
"Tuesday and Thursday at midnight." Harry responded. Hermione looked disappointed. "I've got it at Monday and Friday, midnight." she said, finishing her dinner. "I'm going to go work on the book for the last ten minutes. You'll tell us if the dizzy feeling gets worse, won't you?"  
"Yeah, of course." Harry reassured, "Right now though, I'm more worried about the weird feeling I've got. I feel like something's missing."  
"Maybe it because Sterling's gone." Hermione suggested. Harry gave a small jolt, and turned his head to look at hi left shoulder. "Where did she go?"  
Ron rolled his eyes, and Hermione just looked irritated.  
"Jeez mate, she's been gone all day. You didn't notice?" Ron laughed. Harry felt a little embarrassed. "No, actually." he admitted, "I must have got so used to her being there that I never expected her to go."  
"She'll probably be back soon." assured Hermione. "I'll see you in Care of Magical Creatures." Getting up, she left the table and exited the room.  
"How are the twins managing the shop, anyway?" Harry asked Ron, interestedly. His friend put on a world-weary expression. "They've hired a couple of people to work there while they're at school. When they've finished Hogwarts, they're opening another shop in Diagon Alley. That's where they'll be working. Did you know," he said conspiratorially, leaning closer. "they've got an anonymous co-owner?"  
"Really?" Harry queried innocently, trying to sound surprised. Ron nodded. "Yep. I think it's probably the same person that gave them the money to start Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. I'd say it was Lee Jordan; you know how he is with pranks; but he'd never get hold of a thousand galleons, let alone give it to the twins."  
"Maybe it isn't someone at Hogwarts. It could be an adult."  
"Maybe." Ron said, sounding disbelieving, "but the only person I can think of would be Bagman, and I can't imagine the twins giving _him _part of the company."  
Knowing Ron might get suspicious if he talked about the owner any longer, Harry changed the subject slightly. "So what kind of things are they selling? They sent me a box of tricks for my birthday, but I haven't looked at all of them yet."  
Ron's eyes lit up. "Oh, it's _amazing_," he gushed excitedly. "There's loads of different sweets; they've got the Ton-Tongue Toffee out again. They've made Ferret Fudge, just to spite Malfoy, and they've got this great gobstopper. Instead of changing colours in your mouth, it changes your skin different colours. Fred got Bill to try a beta version, and his skin was blue for hours."  
Harry smiled as he imagined a blue-skinned Bill yelling at the twins.  
"They've got loads of fake wands as well. They've got joke glasses and watches, which put illusions on you, so your eyes look striped, or your hand looks clawed." He paused dreamily. "They've even got a really cool quill that writes down whatever you're thinking. Just imagine giving that to someone, and having them write down their secret. Imagine what you could find out. . ."  
"You're just a sneak at heart, aren't you?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow. "Come on, we've only got a few minutes left. We have to go and face our doom." he finished dryly, raising himself from the chair.  
Ron winced, and followed him. "What do you think Hagrid's going to have for us this lesson?"  
"Well, he was abroad, so I bet it's going to be a Nundu." Harry guessed, heading down the second corridor, on the way to the common room. "Nah, Dumbledore wouldn't let him." disagreed Ron. "It's got to be a chimaera."  
"Maybe Hagrid's brought one of the Acromantulas out of the Forest?" Harry suggested, passing Colin Creevey. Ron shuddered involuntarily. "If he has, I'm going to kill him. After I've run away, of course."  
The predictions of Hagrid's new pet grew worse and worse, ranging from Erumpents to Manticores, until it finally reached a bizarre crossbreed of Blast-Ended Skrewts, Manticores, Chimaeras, Quintapeds and, for some reason, Pixies.  
When they, along with the other Gryffindors, reached the lesson, they found it was something worse, and a lot more terrifying.  
"Hagrid!" Ron screamed in horror, "What are you doing with baby dragons!?"

**~ ~ ~**

As Ron's cry echoed across the grounds of Hogwarts, the arriving Slytherins stooped dead in their tracks and glanced round at each other, as if ascertaining what they had heard. The Gryffindors took a few steps back, looking warily at the nearly five foot long, blue dragon that Hagrid was cradling. "Don' be silly, Ron." the half-giant laughed. "This isn't a dragon. This i' a Wyvern."  
"Oh, that makes it a lot better." Malfoy said sarcastically. "It looks an awful lot like a dragon to _me_."  
Hagrid cradled the blue creature tighter. It's body was a pale blue, whereas a small ruff that ran around it's neck was of a much darker shade of the same colour. It fixed it's gaze on the students, revealing sky-blue eyes.  
Hermione looked fascinated. "Is it really a Wyvern, Hagrid?"  
"O' course." he nodded. "I've got three types 'ere today. We'll just be learnin' about 'em at first, then we'll see how well you 'andle 'em."  
The Slytherins crept closer to the Gryffindors, still looking terrified.  
"Now," Hagrid said, "the other Wyverns are in the crates over by my hut. There's twelve of 'em all together, so you'll be having one each. Now, first of all, the basic history of Wyverns. Although they are cousins of the dragons, there are a few main differences. First of all, they're much smaller. This one I've got 'ere," he held up the Wyvern in his arms, so the class could see, "is full grown, not just a baby. It's only two and a half feet long, and it's tail is another two feet. The smallest Wyvern is just one and a half feet long, while the biggest is about ten feet, eight inches. Both of those are including the tail."  
He paused as the beast gave a small growl. "The second difference, is that Wyverns are a lot less dangerous. Of the fourteen types, there's only four that are particularly hostile, and one's only rated dangerous because it has poisonous fangs. Most Wyvern's claws and teeth are a lot shorter and blunter than dragons', as well. The third difference is that whereas dragons breather fire, Wyverns breathe ice. It can com' out in a steady stream, or in a quick burst, but they only do it when they feel threatened."  
Most of the students were feeling more relaxed now, and Hermione seemed to be bursting with questions.  
"Wyverns are predators, but they mainly eat small mammals and birds. Wyvern eggs are Class A Non-Tradable Goods, like dragons, but you can keep them as pets. Of course," he added, "if you live near Muggles, you have to perform daily Disillusionment Charms on it.  
"They live for very long; the largest species live for a hundred and seventy years or so, and the smallest a hundred and forty. Wyverns live in herds of parents and young, who leave the group after twenty years. Thankfully, the adults don't breed again until their last litter have left, or we'd be drowning in 'em." This gained a laugh from the Gryffindors. "The young can breed at about fifty years, and stop at about a hundred and ten; that's the same for all the species.  
"As I said before, there are fourteen types. The three types of Wyverns I have here are all at a two 'x' rating, which means they're harmless if you treat them well. This one I'm holding is a Scottish Longruff, named after the ruff round it's neck. It's found in Scotland and Northern England, and lays clutches of three, whitish-blue eggs. They're mainly found in the wild.  
"The second type is the Panama Lap Wyvern. It's the smallest Wyvern type, and it's body is one and a half feet long. It's tail is another foot. It's found world-wide, although it originated in Panama, and it's only found in captivity as a pet, because of it's beautiful colouring. It has pink or light purple scales, and violet eyes, and lays clutches of three to four, pale yellow eggs.  
"The final type is the Floridian Ice Dragon. This is the third most recently discovered Wyvern, and was spotted first in Florida, hence the name. However, it's found all over North America; it's the only North American Wyvern. It was originally thought to be a new type of baby dragon, which sparked a week long celebration of the new species; the American Department of Magic and Muggle Relations was going to change their symbol to it." He gave a chuckle. "O' course, when they caught it, they found it was a Wyvern. Quite amusing, to tell the truth. Anyway, it kept the name of dragon. It has green-blue scales, and brown eyes. It's body is three feet long and it's tail is another two and a half feet. It lays two or three pale green eggs. First o' all, are there any questions?"  
Hermione stuck her hand in the air, waving madly. "Hermione?"  
"Does Wyvern blood have any magical properties, like dragon's, and are any parts of them used in wands?" she asked eagerly, in one breath.  
" To answer yeh first question, Wyvern blood is a powerful poison, but only if drunk. Other than that, no. For yeh second question, Wyvern claws and scales are used in wands, but not separately. They don't give the wand any power unless there's a scale and claw together. Wands that _do_ have them, however, are extre'ely powerful.  
"Yeh see, if you have a part of a type of creature in yeh wand, then the same type of creature will react better to yeh. If you had a unicorn hair in yeh wand, for example, even if it wasn't the unicorn it came from, another unicorn would be more likely to trust yeh. O' course, they're not goin' to trust yeh if you try to 'urt 'em.  
"However, Wyvern wands, instead of making Wyverns more friendly to you, actually allow you to call up Wyverns from nearby. Unfortunately, there's only a few ever been made, and the last one was made over one and a half millennia ago. There are a couple of people who still have Wyvern wands passed down to them, so you should be sure not to make them your enemies; they're much too formidable."  
The group of teenagers were silent at this comment, shaken by the idea of such power, just in a single wand.  
"Now," said Hagrid cheerfully. "Who wants to 'old 'im?"  
The Wyvern puffed out some icy breath and bared it's miniature fangs at them.

~ ~ ~

Ten minutes later saw Pansy Parkinson exclaiming how her pink Panama Lap Wyvern - 'Maisy' - was '_just so cuuuttte!_', to which the Slytherin boys gave her some funny looks, and Blaise Zabini (the only other Slytherin Girl taking Care Of Magical Creatures) agreed enthusiastically.  
Hagrid had suggested that when they chose a Wyvern to look after, they should give it a name to get closer to it. Although Hermione was doubtful as first, she had to admit that it was working. The students were now seeing the Wyverns as pets, rather than subjects to study. "Aren't you a good girl, Florence? Are you? Yes, you are, you're beautiful!" she cooed, playing a mock struggle with her Floridian Ice Dragon.  
"She's gone nuts." Ron told Harry, playing with his own Floridian.  
"_She's_ not the one who called her Wyvern 'Nadom'." Harry pointed out, stroking his Longruff's back. Ron glowered at him. "His name is pronounced Nay-dom, not Nahdum. And it stands for 'North American Department of Magic', actually. Personally, I think Blur is a stupid name."  
"It's a lot better than Nadom. At least mine _means _something." Harry said, his headache fading slightly. The Longruff gave a snort of agreement. "See? He doesn't it think it's stupid."  
From over to Harry's right, Neville tried in vain to calm his energetic Longruff. He had the misfortune to have picked what seemed to be the Wyvern version of a Marauder**;** the creature seemed to enjoy running rings around him, and pulling the hem of his robes so that he fell over. All the Gryffindors had agreed that there could be no name for him except Prankster.  
At the moment, the miniature wind-up merchant was leading Neville on a chase over to the Slytherins. Flapping as hard as he could (Harry could swear he was grinning), the blue Longruff occasionally slowed down so Neville caught up with him, and sped up just as he was nearly caught.  
Over in the rival house, Harry could hear Malfoy's drawling voice. "It looks like we have a guest coming. Prepare to celebrate." There were a few sniggers from his two flunkies.  
Prankster continued flying happily, dodging Neville's attempts to grab him.  
Turning his attention back to Blur, Harry started running his fingers through it's long, fluffy mane. It really was quite cute. Blur lay still on Harry's lap, completely docile, watching the antics of Hermione, who was now being licked by her rough-and-tumble Wyvern, which seemed to act like a puppy.  
"What's Malfoy doing?" Ron said suddenly, and Harry looked back at the scene.  
Malfoy was holding his Floridian Wyvern and muttering something to it. It's huge, brown eyes seemed to fill with amusement as he spoke, and Harry dreaded what was going to happen next. Raising it's head, the Wyvern fixed it's eyes upon Prankster, and, taking careful aim, made a movement like a cat coughing up a hairball. Throwing it's head forward, a ball of ice shot out towards the Longruff.  
"Duck!!" Harry yelled, leaping to his feet and knocking Blur off his lap. Prankster seemed to notice the ice coming now. Giving a yelp, he shot down and hugged the ground as the ice headed towards the space where he was. Neville, however, wasn't so lucky. "Gotcha!" he shouted joyfully, still running to the Wyvern. Just as he reached the Longruff, the ball hurtled at him like a white Bludger, slamming him hard in the stomach. Flying backwards, Neville landed unconscious on the grass.  
"Neville!" Hermione cried in shock, clapping her hands to her mouth. Prankster looked terrified, and ran over to the boy, nuzzling at his neck.  
Malfoy looked frightened for a second, but reverted to his usual smug look, as the Gryffindors rushed to Neville's side. **"WHAT DID YEH THINK YEH WERE DOIN'?"** Hagrid boomed, looking fearsome with the rage clear on his face.  
Malfoy's expression turned back to frightened.  
"Dean, Seamus. Get Neville to the 'Ospital Wing." Hagrid ordered and pointed a finger at Malfoy. "Twenty points from Slytherin and a detention. I'll be seein' Dumbledore about you, make no mistake."  
"My father-"  
"Isn't here, is he? As fo' your Wyvern, playing up like that, I don't think you should be allowed to have your own one now, if you're not goin' to act your age. Blizzard will have to stay with the other Wyverns that no-one chose."  
Malfoy's face seemed to fall most at the last two sentences. Seeing that whining wasn't going to do any good, he gazed longingly after his Floridian as it was taken away by Hagrid, and put in a pen behind the hut. "That pen's got a ward on it to stop them flying out, so don't think you can sneak in and get him." Hagrid warned, slightly calmed by the return of Dean and Seamus, who said Madam Pomfrey believed Neville would be alright in a few hours, even though he was still unconscious at the moment.  
Harry made up with Blur over the 'knocking Blur off his lap' incident, and Hermione joined him and Ron in playing with the creatures, including Prankster, who was allowed to stay out as he hadn't meant to cause the 'accident'.  
The rest of the lesson passed quickly; when they had finished playing, Hagrid explained little-known facts about the Wyverns, such as that they enjoyed water, and some species would even dive down and catch fish. Panama Lap Wyverns, however, hated water with a passion, and liked just the opposite; to lay in front of a roaring fire and have a snooze. Harry guessed it was because of the centuries of Lap Wyverns being domesticated as pets, which tended to make them prize show animals. Hermione, busy taking notes for Neville, agreed with him.  
When the second lesson was over, and it was time for either Charms, Herbology or Transfiguration, depending on the student's schedule, there were groans even from the Slytherins. The Wyverns were led back into the pens, Hagrid letting them off homework for the first day back ("Pity Trelawney, Snape and Flitwick don't think that way." Ron muttered darkly), and the teenagers were told 'get lost now, or you'll be late for yeh next lessons. Yes, yeh can come back afterwards and see them. No, you can't take them out of the pens. Look, just go, you'll see 'em again on Wednesday.', which caused them all to perk up slightly.  
"Wasn't Florence sweet?" Hermione sighed, waving goodbye to the Wyverns. "I can't wait 'til Wednesday. Or should we cancel the Hogsmeade trip and see them after lessons.  
"Let's see them tomorrow break or lunch." Ron volunteered. "I want to show Harry Fred and George's shop. I getting a fifty percent discount on anything, so tell me if you want something, and I'll get it. Then you can pay me back afterwards."  
"Oh, honestly." Hermione said irritably. "All you ever think about are such ridiculous things." She brightened suddenly. "Maybe I should become a Wyvern instead of a polecat."  
"Definitely not." Harry said sharply. Hermione looked at him questioningly. "First of all, if Muggles spot you, it wouldn't be easy to explain away, and you mainly live in the Muggle world. Second, you're not allowed a magical creature if we just have Muggle ones." He dodged a thump. "Well, it's unfair to us. If we'd known about Wyverns, we'd probably have become one."  
"Well you should have researched before you chose. Seriously though, I don't think I'll be a Wyvern. It _would_ be a bit conspicuous, even to Wizards." Hermione stopped in front of the Charms door. "This is my next lesson. Meet you in the entrance hall at four forty-five." She opened the door and went in, shutting it behind her.  
"Pity we're going to Hogsmeade, instead of training." commented Ron, "I wanted to see whether she'd change as fast as us."

~ ~ ~

Gryffindor were still having Herbology with Hufflepuff, much to Harry's dread. Cedric Diggory, a popular Hufflepuff student, had died at the end of last year, by Harry's side. Mainly, Harry could shake the guilt off and continue as if it had never happened, feeling only sorrow for Cedric and the mourning Hufflepuffs. When mentioned, however, Harry couldn't help feeling that it was his fault, and that he could have done something to save him. Cedric's death had haunted his dreams more than a few times over the holidays.  
Very few people were taking Herbology for this lesson; Harry, Ron, Dean, Hannah Abbott, Ernie Macmillan and Susan Bones were the only ones. Neville would have been, but he was still in the Hospital Wing. "Just our luck for the one subject Neville's brilliant at, to come up when he's unconscious." Ron grumbled, grabbing a stool. "Damn Malfoy."  
That lesson, they studied the effects of Gertroot, a moss-green plant that changed colour to predict the weather.  
Harry was thankful to note that the Hufflepuffs seemed to be talking and reacting to him like normal. It seemed Dumbledore's end-of-year speech had established the fact that it was not Harry's fault and had, in fact, taken great risk to return Cedric's body to his family.  
Because of the perfectly civil and unsuspicious behaviour, the two-hour lesson flew by, regrettably leaving the students to write a scroll on the reasons for the colour change by Thursday.  
As the lesson ended at four thirty, it left fifteen minutes to get ready for Hogsmeade. Harry grabbed some money from his trunk (Ron had already taken some out after lunch, when the trip had been planned) and a cloak, and they met Hermione in the entrance hall.  
"Finally." Hermione said impatiently, gesturing to the door. "I've been here for ten minutes already."  
Ron gave a cry of mock horror. "Alas! Woe am I! The sky shall fall on our heads!"  
"Very funny. How was Herbology?"  
"Okay." Ron shrugged. "A bit boring, but it is a lesson about plants, so I suppose you have to expect that."  
"I find Herbology fascinating, myself." Hermione said, starting out. The boys caught up with her quickly.  
"How long are we staying out until?" Harry asked, walking the familiar path to the village. Hermione shrugged. "Maybe seven thirty? We can have lunch in the Three Broomsticks, and we can sort out some of our homework in the village library."  
Ron gave Harry the Look Of Despair, which Hermione saw. "We're going to shop." she tutted, "I just think we should make a start on our Potions. Plus I have Charms to do, and I bet you have Herbology. Then we can have break and lunch free tomorrow to visit the Wyverns."  
"Good point," Ron admitted, "but we're going to the library last."  
"Fine." Hermione agreed.  
Harry turned his eyes to God, and thanked Him for letting them sort something out without a fight.  
By now, they had reached the start of Hogsmeade. Up ahead of the 'olde worlde' houses and shops, Harry could see a few other students coming out of Gladrags Wizard-Wear, one holding a large bag. Other than that, Hogsmeade seemed to be devoid of Hogwarts teenagers.  
"Let's visit the twin's shop first." Harry suggested, eagerly anticipating the jokes. Ron nodded his approval. "My idea exactly. I haven't see it yet, though, but Fred and George say it's near the centre of the village."  
"They should have put it next to Zonko's." Hermione said. "Then they could take Zonko's customers."  
"Or Zonko's would take theirs." Harry pointed out. "And I don't think there were any buildings for sale next to Zonko's."  
The conversation changed abruptly as to where the students were; Hermione swore she'd seen at least twenty teenagers rushing past her in the entrance hall; but it seemed the only students in sight were the two in Madame Malkins, who now had also disappeared, and the trio themselves.  
As they turned one of the cobbled corners, they could only gape.  
"Well," Ron said bluntly. "That explains where everyone is."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Important note: A few people have e-mailed or reviewed to say that they changed a bit too easily YES! OF COURSE THEY DID! IT'S AN IMPORTANT PLOT POINT! The point of it was 'how the hell did they do it before even Merlin' and that WILL be answered. For now, they just think they have some kind of talent for it.  
Also, who noticed that the poison ended pretty quickly for Harry? Before you say anything, yes, that's a plot point too. If anything seems completely unbelievable, (i.e. Malfoy disappearing mysteriously) it's probably a plot point (as well as a few plot points hidden in sentences, that you probably won't notice, until it's _too late_! Mwa ha ha!!)  
Please! I live on reviews! Constructive criticism is welcome and wanted! 


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: See previous disclaimers, fools! : ^ b **  
Note:** I don't think I'm going to put Harry with anybody (not until the sequel, anyway, wink wink, and I won't force you to read it); possibly some time with Cho or Ginny, but nothing serious. And sorry, no Draco romance. Oh, it won't be semi-pornographic or anything, like you fear, it'll be barely mentioned. After all, it is a last minute thing. Sorry, no H/Hr, either.  
**2nd Note: **Harry + Ron's lesson timetable is tagged on the end. I got tired of making the characters say what they had next so that everyone knew. Oh, and I decided not to add my new fic's teaser on the end. Never mind.

**Chapter 8:  
Of Stores and Strange Happenings.**

Death is the least of all evils.  
~ A Thousand Paths to Wisdom

"That most _definitely_ explains it." Hermione managed, still with her mouth stuck open.  
"So. . . I'm guessing that Weasley's Wizard Wheezes is thriving, then?" said Harry, watching the crowd of fifty or so people around the shop front, screaming for those inside to come out, so they could get in.  
"Possibly." Ron answered.  
Walking towards the store, they got a better picture of the situation. Most of the people in the crowd were Hogwarts students, and there seemed to be more inside. One or two were adults, obviously reporters, for the Daily Prophet and another Wizarding newspaper.  
A pair of guards stood at the door, only allowing people in when others came out.  
"Geez!" Ron choked finally. "They said they were doing well, but I had no idea. . .!" he trailed off.  
"Well, business picked up lately, what with the students and all." came Fred's voice from behind them. "We've only just come down here, actually."  
Ron just glared at him. "Where's George?"  
"Just popped in to do an interview for the Daily Prophet. It's a big thing, new shops in Hogsmeade always are. Plus, there's a lot of mystery around the anonymous benefactor, and the Bagman scandal had the front page. So naturally Weasley's Wizard Wheezes would spark a lot of attention." He craned his head around the trio. "George'll be in there for a while. You should wait for the craze to die down first. Give it half an hour or so?"  
"That's a good idea, actually." Hermione said regretfully, "We might as well get lunch sorted now. Boys?"  
"Wha'?" Ron stopped peering in the shop window. "Oh damn, I can't see George. Okay."  
Harry shrugged. "Fine by me."  
George said his goodbyes, giving Harry a surreptitious thumbs up as he left, which the others thankfully didn't see. Hermione dragged the pair off to the Three Broomsticks for foaming mugs of Butterbeer, and an early lunch; which meant 'you two eat and drink, while I make notes in my book and try to work out how this chapter ends.', something that plagues every author (It's true!).  
While Ron tried to force Hermione to eat something, she made Harry tell her about the classes he took, for her 'Education' section of the book. "Can't you at least manage a sundae?" Ron practically wailed, earning himself a stare from the only two other customers.  
"Ron, calm down." Hermione snapped, giving in and taking a spoonful of ice cream. "I shouldn't even be having dessert without a proper meal."  
"She sounds just like my mum." Ron stage-whispered to Harry, earning himself another sharp remark about responsibility and good examples.  
Harry broke up the fight before it started. _'I must be getting good at this.' _he thought briefly, saying loudly, "Where are we going next? I'm guessing Hermione wants to stop by the Quill 'n' Scroll."  
"And Gladrags." Ron supplemented. "Fred and George said I could pick out a pair of dress robes, and they'd pay for them. I'm thinking of something scarlet."  
"With frills?" Harry asked innocently, and pulled his legs back before Ron could kick him.  
"Gladrags first," determined Hermione, "I just want to look around the Quill 'n' Scroll, I don't need to buy anything."  
"We should get a copy of the Daily Prophet." Ron volunteered, standing up. "See if Fudge's admitted You-Know-Who's back."  
"Nah, there'd be pigs flying if he had." Harry finished his sundae. "What happened to Rita Skeeter anyway?"  
"I used her in a potion." Hermione said in a blasé sort of way. Harry and Ron stared. "Oh, honestly. I didn't really." she reprimanded. "First of all, I sent her to the Department of Magical Abilities and Talents, which means she's being fined over a hundred galleons for all the people she's spied on; it wasn't a big enough offence to go to Azkaban. Plus, she's not allowed to turn into a beetle anymore. If she does, a tracker on her alerts the Ministry."  
"Nice work." Ron said in good-natured surprise. Hermione put on a self-satisfied expression. "It was nothing." she said, rising from her chair. Harry followed her lead.  
As they had agreed, Gladrags Wizard-Wear was the first store. Hermione had to help Ron with selecting some robes; they all agreed that Ron had no taste whatsoever in clothes, which (unsurprisingly), made him slightly annoyed. The trio finally agreed on a scarlet one with long sleeves, made of crushed velvet, which suited Ron perfectly. Predictably, it had no ruffs or frills on it.  
It seemed to be a perfectly normal shopping trip, until they entered the Quill 'n' Scroll.  
Business was picking up in the other shops now, as the customers in the Wheezes store finished their buying. This meant that, along with the two staff members, there were about twenty people.  
The moment Harry entered, there was an excited squeak. "Harry! Over here!" someone yelled, looking round from a bookcase. Looking closely, Harry saw it was Colin Creevey, now a fourth year. His trademark camera was still hanging round his neck.  
Puzzled beyond even trying to avoid the boy, Harry advanced to the books to see what Colin wanted to tell him. "Harry! Isn't this great? Just look at this!" Colin exclaimed, jumping from one foot to another in elation. He thrust a book into Harry's hands. "Just look at it! Look!"  
Dreading the reason, Harry looked.

**~ ~ ~**

"Hermione, I have to get out of here," Harry hissed into his friend's ear, eyes darting around. Hermione looked at him blankly. "Why?" she asked, as she paid for her copy of the Daily Prophet.  
To answer, Harry showed her the book. "Oh, my Lord." she gasped. "Harry, you're right. Wait outside, I'll get Ron."  
He was quick to comply with the order. Smoothing his fringe (a/n bangs in American) down over his scar worriedly, he hurried to he exit, keeping his face down. To his annoyance, Colin met with him outside. "What'cha doing, Harry?" he asked, thrilled, "Did you like it? I got the picture for the cover and some of the inside photographs. Did you like them? Harry?"  
"They were great, Colin." Harry growled, fighting the urge to give the younger boy a good smack in the mouth. "But next time that someone decides to write an unauthorised biography of me, would you please tell me if you're going to sell them pictures?"  
Colin looked disappointed. "Alright. But I only gave them the really good ones, is that okay?"  
"Yeah." Harry sighed, checking his hair still covered his scarred forehead. "At least you didn't let them have the one with the bones in my arm missing."  
"Yes I did, that's on page fifty two." Colin said, proudly. And that was when the lightning bolt struck.

**~ ~ ~**

From out of the clear, blue sky, a sudden, golden flash of lightning raced down and smashed against the ground between the two boys. A scream rang out from one of the passers-by, who obviously thought one of them had been hit. As quickly as it had come, the brilliant coloured lightning had gone.  
Colin and Harry stared at the circle of charred cobblestones in front of them. "What. . . was that?" Colin whispered to Harry, his normally cheerful face a chalk white. "I'm not entirely sure." Harry replied slowly. "But whatever it was, it wasn't something normal."  
A few shoppers were staring at the pair, while a few more had continued on with their business. "But there isn't a cloud in the sky" Colin said in amazement, "It's perfectly clear. Perfectly. Perfectly!"  
"Don't go hysterical on me, now." Harry said, taking action and dragging the younger boy away from the stares of the onlookers. "The Gertroot from today predicted Sun as well. Just go on, it's probably just some freak weather." Pushing the boy away from him and in the direction of the other shops, Harry looked back at the Quill 'n' Scroll. "Thank God." he muttered, seeing Hermione and Ron exiting the shop. He walked over as quickly as he could without running, and met up with the two students. "Harry, what are you doing?" Hermione questioned angrily, "I told you to wait outside. And it took me _ages_ to find Ron."  
"Sorry, Colin caught me, and something pretty weird happened." He hastily explained the lightning bolt, gesturing in the direction of the scorch mark.  
Hermione stared at it interestedly. "And you say the bolt was golden?" Harry nodded. "Yeah. It came down right in front of Colin and me."  
"It was powerful enough to scorch these cobblestones as well." she murmured, looking carefully at the blackened mark. She held her finger by it, crouching down. "It's hot as well. There's no way an ordinary lightning bolt could cause this much damage; the houses and stones in Hogsmeade are protected against weathering and other natural damage by spells. It had to be a lightning bolt caused by extremely powerful magic. No normal magic-user could have caused this.."  
"Why'd anyone want to attack the ground?" Ron challenged, standing by Hermione's crouched figure. She glared at him, standing up again. "Of course they didn't. It was probably some accidental magic and luckily missed Colin and Harry."  
"Pity they didn't hit Colin." Harry said bitterly. "That would have taught him a lesson." These phrases meant that Harry was then questioned by the others, and the whole story of the 'boneless arm' photos came out.  
Hermione managed to stop Ron choking from laughing too hard, when Harry volunteered the idea of visiting Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.  
The crowd was gone now, only a few people inside. "It's about time." Ron sighed as they entered. "I thought we'd never get in."  
"I'm going to look at the prank books," Harry told Ron. "Fred and George didn't send me any of those."  
"I don't really want to buy anything, so I'm going to talk with the twins." Hermione added, going to the counter. "They're probably still here."  
When they exited the shop, twenty minutes later, Harry and Ron's pockets were filled with toffees, hard-boiled sweets, Gross-Out Gobstoppers and a pocket book on prank ideas.  
"Eugh, listen to this one," Ron said in disgust, his nose buried in the book. "Number one hundred and seventeen; replace the victim's ceiling with rubbish, charmed to fall when the victim comes in. Variation, use mud. That's sick."  
"Good idea, Ron. Variation number two, use sick." Harry said casually, making Ron look slightly ill.  
"We have an hour left." Hermione declared, checking the time. "We're going to the library right now."  
Harry hid a groan and glanced at Ron, who didn't seem excited with the idea either. It did however, turn out to be a good idea. Instead of the dark, slightly musty library in Hogwarts, the village library was smaller, but still had useful books. It was brighter and more cheerful, and the librarian (a man by the name of Gareth Oakes) was a lot less strict, and a lot more friendly.  
By the end of the hour, Harry had finished his Herbology and Potions homework, and had finished a scroll for History of Magic.  
Returning to Hogwarts later on, Harry had to admit it had been a particularly good day; even if he hadn't got to throttle Colin.

**~ ~ ~**

When the three had reached the Gryffindor common room, the day stated to go slightly disturbing, as the other Gryffindors in fifth year were waiting by the portrait hole. When the three entered, Dean and Seamus stopped playing exploding snap, Lavender and Patil gave identical squeals of excitement, and Neville stared at them. "What's wrong?" Hermione asked, puzzled, looking round the students. Patil clapped her hands. "We want to know how you knew it was going to happen."  
Ron frowned. "What was going to happen?"  
Patil looked annoyed. "Hermione! She said in Divination that Neville would be 'hurt later today, by a creature and ice'. The Floridian Ice Dragon was a creature, and it hurt him with ice."  
"How did you know?" Neville wailed, falling into one of the armchairs. "I was in the Hospital Wing for _hours_, and you'd already predicted it!"  
Harry looked at Hermione, who seemed to be getting annoyed. "Don't be ridiculous!" she blustered furiously, "That Divination is a load of nonsense; no-one should take it seriously!"  
"Then why were you so angry that Trelawney didn't believe you?" Dean challenged, and then cowered back as Hermione's glare fell on him, in all it's daemonic glory. "_Exactly_!" she shrieked, hands balled into fists, her face rapidly changing red. "_I was angry that she didn't believe I'd read it right! Not that I believed it would come true! _"  
"Okay." whimpered Dean, giving way to Hermione's temper. Finishing off, she rounded on Neville. "_I told you not to be so stupid and have faith in Divination! IT'S RUBBISH! GUESSWORK! A STRING OF COINCIDENCES!"  
_"Alright!" Neville squeaked, as Patil and Lavender fled, the room, fearing that they would be next.  
Straightening and calming herself, Hermione turned back to Harry and Ron, who were gawping at her in shock. "I'm having an early night." she said sharply, before turning on her heel and stamping up the spiral staircase to her dorm.  
There was silence.  
"Well," Ron said hesitantly, "that was a bit different, wasn't it?"  
"Just a bit." Harry concurred, following the girl's plans and heading to bed. The four boys left in the room stared after them. 

~ ~ ~

Tuesday morning saw the beginning of gloomy, dreary weather. Thin, grey clouds hung in the air, filling the sky for as far as the naked eye could see, like a thin, grey, gaseous vapour. Oh, sorry, it was. Never mind.. Neville, who popped down to the greenhouses to get some information that Hermione had neglected to write for him, reported that the Gertroot had changed to a russet red, confirming the suspicions that worse weather would follow.  
"It's just our luck." Ron lamented as they headed to their first two lessons of Defence Against the Dark Arts. "The day we were getting our hands bitten off outside, it was sunny. Now that all our lessons are inside for the day, we get the leftover rain."  
"First of all Ron, I don't think it's possible to have 'leftover rain'. And secondly, we all enjoyed Hagrid's lesson." chided Hermione, dodging a pair of huffing, puffing first-years, who fled down the corridors to their lessons. "Well, except for Malfoy and Neville." she added. "I hope Neville doesn't blame it on Prankster."  
"Nah, he blames it on Malfoy." Ron said cheerfully. Harry let a small smile grace his face at this thought.  
"Defence class." Ron announced, stopping in front of the doors. He peered in through the small window at the top of the door. "Looks like we're first. Professor Lupin's already here though."  
Pushing open the door, he entered, Harry and Hermione following close behind. Harry took a seat by the window, and Hermione sat behind him, whilst Ron sat to his right.  
Lupin looked up from the textbook. "You're early. The lesson only starts in seven minutes."  
"We finished breakfast quickly." Hermione explained, probing through her bag for her own book.  
Ron, who had already finished unpacking his bag, sucked on the end of his quill. "What are we doing today, Professor?" he asked in an interested voice. Lupin, however, did not fall for the distraction. "Put the Sugar Quill away please, and get out a proper one." He looked at Ron sternly, who obeyed immediately, albeit disappointedly. "Today, we're learning about Necromancers and Necroscopes. They'll be coming up on your O.W.Ls, so I thought it was best that we covered them."  
By the pleased expression on Hermione's face, it was obvious that she had already read the chapter dealing with the two subjects, and was able to answer practically any question on the area under discussion.  
A few minutes later, the rest of the Gryffindors filed in, and the class began.  
"Today's lesson will not be practical, as it isn't possible for us." the teacher began, standing by the blackboard. "For the next few lessons; which are, I believe, a double today, a double on Thursday, and a single lesson on Friday; we will be studying the Arts of the Dead. Necromancy and Necroscopy.  
"Please turn to page one hundred and fourteen in your textbooks, chapter twenty six."  
There was an interlude to the previous silence from the students, which involved flicking desperately through the pages, or, in Hermione's case, opening it at the right page on the first try, something that Harry and Ron never ceased to be amazed at.  
Harry guessed that it was because she read so many books, that she knew exactly how thick the pages were, and could accurately select one at will. Ron said she was just lucky. With no way to test either theory, the reason had remained a mystery to the fifth year Gryffindors. If Hermione knew why it was, she didn't say.  
The rest of the lesson sped by smoothly. Necromancers and Necroscopes, Harry learnt, were the same things. Necromancers, however, used their ability of talking to the dead for Dark magic, and could also make the dead feel pain, so as to torture them. Necroscopes, although with the same powers, used their abilities for Light magic, and usually refused to harm the dead.  
The Necro abilities were heightened greatly at night, and very weak during day; usually they weren't used at all in daytime.  
They were all human; the Arts of the Dead, as they were known together, were simply talents, much as Parseltongue was. The last known practitioner, a Necroscope, lived in the late eighteen hundreds - Timothy Jessolen in Ireland.  
It was believed that a new Necro-abled person was born every two generations, although it was deemed to be unlikely; if this was true, there would be a Necro-abled alive at the moment somewhere, and surely their abilities would have been discovered already.  
Their homework recorded, their notes scribbled down (on scrap paper that fell apart as soon as you touched it), and their minds full of information, the students left the room after two hours, bursting to finish any Potions homework that they had forgotten from yesterday.  
Harry and co. also raced to the library. Soon, Harry had finished another two scrolls for History of Magic, leaving only one more to do, and took out an interesting book on Necroscopes - books that mainly focused on Necromancy were in the restricted section.

~ ~ ~

"That was an interesting first lesson." Hermione thought aloud as they left the library. "I would have thought he'd have gone over dark creatures that were likely to come across; in the first war against You-Know-Who, he had an army of them."  
"Yeah," Ron pointed out, "but if he did get a Necromancer on his side, that would be a big help to him. After all, some of the more powerful Necro-abled could call up zombies just by wanting it."  
Harry, remembering his notes, contradicted him. "Only two of them, and only for a short while. Even then, it was only once for each, when they were in extreme danger, and it just happened; they didn't _try _to call them up."  
"But they still did it. And let's face it, if You-Know-Who managed to get a Necromancer, he'd have no qualms about using a magical amplifier, or some Dark magic to make him more powerful."  
"Or her." Hermione added. She adjusted her bag. "Oh, Harry. Don't forget, Prefects meeting after Transfiguration."  
"I won't forget." Harry promised. "We'll just be having it in the Transfiguration room for today?"  
"Yes, but the rest of the meetings will be in the Prefect's room." Hermione confirmed. Harry looked blank. "Oh, honestly." she half-sighed, half-snapped. "Second floor, two doors along from the History of Magic classroom. The door won't open unless you're wearing a Prefect badge."  
Ron raised an eyebrow. "Should you be saying this stuff around me? I could steal your badge and sneak in anytime, now."  
"You're perfectly honest, I know that for a fact." The girl heaved a sigh. "It's a pity we can't steal Malfoy's badge, though. Just imagine the fun we could have with it."  
"I'll tell you what isn't very fun." Harry interrupted in horror. "We're five minutes late for Transfiguration!"  
Ron swore loudly, and Hermione disappeared down the corridor before even scolding him.  
"Three times in two days," Harry groaned, as the pair raced behind Hermione. "I swear, someone really hates me."  
"Quite a. . . lot of. . . people. . . actually. . ." Ron puffed. "And no jokes. . . about. . . being out of. . . breath, and Weasley's. . . Wizard Wheezes. . . alright?"  
"I'd be a bit of a hypocrite." Harry gasped, stopping too late and running into the classroom door. "Umpf!"  
"Graceful." Ron commented, pausing to catch his breath. "Let's face Fate."  
"Or one p.o'd***** teacher." Harry said, sarcastically. Opening the door, they walked in.  
"Finally." Hermione said. "I saved you some places, sit down."  
Hesitating only for a second, the boys glanced at each other, shrugged, and took their seats. "Please, _please_ don't tell me that Professor McGonagall is late." Harry asked, wide-eyed at the thought. Ron looked at Hermione questioningly.  
"Strange isn't it?" Hermione queried. "This is the first time _ever _that she's been late."  
"More than just strange." Harry said thoughtfully. "Malfoy's been missing a lot - I've only seen him a few times, and usually he makes no effort to get out of my way. Then yesterday, Snape was late for Potions. . . and now the strictest, most rule-abiding, punctual teacher is late?"  
"Good point." Ron frowned. Hermione looked interested. "Snape was late as well? Do you think they're connected?"  
"Don't try to investigate. I've had enough of that for the last few years." warned Harry, occasionally looking at the door. "I'll admit, it's weird, but even if it is all related to each other, we shouldn't do anything about it. I don't want to ruin Gryffindor's winning streak by having having a couple of hundred points taken away."  
"Maybe Snape and McGonagall are having an affair." Ron suggested wickedly. Harry shuddered.  
Hermione was quick to reply. "Neither of them are married, so it wouldn't be an affair. Besides, that doesn't account for Malfoy."  
"Malfoy might have nothing to do with it." Ron reasoned. "Could just be a coincidence with h-"  
The door opened abruptly, cutting off his argument, and the professor swept in. She gazed around the classroom, taking the Gryffindor's faces in. "You're all here. Good." she said smartly, and strode to her desk. "Today, we'll be discussing Animagus' in more detail. You'll remember that we went over the basics in third year, but today, we'll be broadening your knowledge of it. First of all, is anyone here interested in becoming an Animagus?"  
Hermione's hand shot into the air, as well as, surprisingly, Neville Longbottom's. A flicker of shock caught McGonagall's face as she caught sight of him, and then was gone. "That's very interesting. Now, the reason I ask this is because I have an Activus Crystal from South America; tribe Wizards and shamans were the inventors of the spell, as you learnt."  
"Activus crystal?" Ron whispered to Harry, leaning across the table. "Wasn't the spell to activate our forms 'Activus Animagus'?"  
Harry nodded. "I've never heard of the Crystal, though." he muttered back. "It might have been somewhere in my book - I didn't read all of it."  
"If Mr Potter and Mr Weasley would like to pay attention?"  
Ron winced. "Sorry, Professor."  
"Good." McGonagall opened one of her desk drawers, and took a fist-sized, white gem out. Something - a pale blue - twisted inside, like the interior of a marble.  
"This," she said, "is an Activus Crystal. The North American shamans and Wizards believed that every person was born with a Spirit Guide; an animal that best represented their personality. It could be anything, from a slug to an elephant.  
"They also believed that although a person could choose any animal to change into, it would be easier to transform into their Spirit Guide form. Because of this, they made an Activus Crystal; one for each tribe or village.  
"When held, and certain words said, you are then put into a relaxed state, like a trance, which shows you your ideal form, or Spirit Guide. Since I had to pull in a lot of favours to get hold of one, do NOT break it. I will be letting each of you; or possibly just Miss Granger and Mr Longbottom try it, and discover their perfect Animagus body." She looked, once again, round the room, at the eager faces. "I take it that you all want a go?"  
Nods from everyone. McGonagall tutted. "Very well, then. As soon as you've seen your forms, write it down on a piece of parchment. When everyone's finished, we'll go through what you were, if you want to say so. However, if there's so much as a _crack_ on it by the end, it'll be a months worth of detentions. Clear?"  
Yet more nods from everyone.  
"Good. We'll go round in seating order. If, by the end, you want to become an Animagus, come an see me. Don't forget that it takes months to years of hard work to complete the transformation, so don't expect it to happen overnight." (Ron suddenly burst into a giggling fit at this, and hastily changed it into a series of coughs).  
"Mr Thomas, you're first. The words are 'Activus Magus'. Make sure you have a tight hold on it, or you'll drop it when you go into a trance." She passed the malformed gem to the boy, who took it as it would shatter at any second.  
"Activus Magus." he said excitedly, and his body suddenly became loose. He looked relaxed, his eyes closed and head slumped forwards slightly. Parvati Patil gave a small shriek of glee, which the teacher thankfully didn't hear; and after a quarter of a minute, Dean's eyelids sprang open. He hurtled upright, clutching the gem. "That was cool!"  
"Thank you for that information, Mr Thomas. Write it down, and pass the Crystal on to Mr Finnigan."  
Seamus Finnigan, Dean's best friend, took the Crystal with a little less care than Dean. Saying the words, he went into the same trance, and came out just as excited, about twenty seconds later.  
Hermione was next - she was sitting just behind Seamus. Her trance lasted around thirty seconds, but she came out practically dancing with exhilaration. She almost threw the Crystal to Ron in her giddy adrenaline rush, and hurried to write her change down. Harry tried to peer at it, but Hermione hid it from his view with her arm.  
Shrugging it off, Harry turned back to look at Ron, who was just coming out of his daze. Instead of looking excited, however, he looked positively amazed and pleased. "Here." he said, thrusting the crystal into Harry's hands.  
The Crystal was quite light; now Harry could see it closely, he realised the light blue inside was hundreds, maybe thousands, of tiny dots, which swirled around each other and inside the gem. Although the Crystal itself was twisted and malformed, it wasn't rough - it was smooth, and milky white. "Activus Magus." he told it, and felt himself rushing away form his body. 

~ ~ ~

He was drifting in creamy swirls that were overlaid on a light grey background. Silence was one of the first things he noticed, and then a glimmer of movement far away.  
Feeling a strange urge to find it, he walked across the barren landscape of his trance world, seemingly floating across the thin air unthinking of how. Curiously, even though the movement seemed to be miles off (how had he seen that far, anyway?), he managed to walk there in two paces (but his strides were no longer than normal, so how?). The ground felt more solid here (even though there was no ground), and Harry could see what the creature was. The scenery suddenly shifted, into a long cliff edge, mountains in the background. A red clouded sky hung over them all. Under the creature, a pink waterfall poured over, although there was nowhere it could have come from.  
But all that took Harry's attention was the beast.  
Lying on a ridge was a lion, but a bizarre one; it's orange-brown mane was smooth and flat, falling down against it's neck. It's long tail, instead of ending in a clump of hairs, curved into a brush-shaped, light brown at the tips. The lion's ears were long and pointed, thin at the bottom, and rising into an elegant top, even thinner. The eyes were slanted, with points - but the most extraordinary thing was the wings.  
Rising out of the top of it's front legs they were feathery and golden, the lowest feather of each wing pointed out, longer than those above it. Of the wings, slanted eyes, like those of the beast, were patterned on it, becoming smaller as they went higher.  
Moving slowly, it twisted his head round to him, and gazed intently into his eyes.  
'_Remember me._'it said quietly.  
And then, Harry woke up.

~ ~ ~

For some reason, he wasn't wearing his glasses. Blinking the fuzzy feeling away, Harry knew where he was - he'd seen it enough times without his glasses. '_Why on Earth am I in the Hospital Wing?_' he briefly thought, reaching out to the bedside table and taking his glasses.  
Putting them on, he looked around. There was no-one in the room; even Madame Pomfrey was missing. His hand felt itchy and as he raised his other hand to scratch it, he caught sight of the palm. The hand that he'd used to hold the Crystal was burnt. Dried blood covered it, so he knew he must have only just been brought in - otherwise Madame Pomfrey would have cleaned it. Glad that it didn't hurt, he sat up and looked at the clock.  
It had been about six minutes since his turn with the Crystal, according to the timepiece. Trying to remember his form, Harry recalled what had happened. There was a lion - a winged one - lying on a ridge. And it had spoken. It hadn't sounded like English though; it sounded similar to when Harry spoke Parseltongue on purpose.  
If he listened carefully, he could hear a faint hiss in the voice of a snake, or in his own Parseltongue; with the lion, he could hear a hint of a growl. Shaking the confused thought out of his head, Harry tried to work out what it meant. How had he understood the beast? And what _was_ it?  
His contemplation was interrupted by the nurse arriving. "You're awake." she noted, putting down the bowl of water she was carrying. "Just wash that blood off in here, and we'll find out what happened."  
Obeying, Harry gingerly dipped his hands in. The water was ice cold, but with his hand burnt and still warm, it was a pleasant relief. Using one hand, he gently scraped the blood off the other, wincing slightly. The scabby blood whirled around the bowl, settling on the bottom and turning the water red. When he felt that his hand was clean, he took it out of the water, under Madame Pomfrey's watchful eyes.  
The itching had gone now, so he lifted his hand above the bowl to look at it.  
Imprinted on the palm of his hand was a tiny, winged lion's outline, in gold. It had it's wings spread and was rearing up, claws outstretched, as if in battle.  
Letting out a small gasp, he pulled his hand closer, flinging drops of water around him. It was still there.  
Looking closer at it, he saw the tiny figure had ruby eyes, barely noticeable on the two inch tall creature.  
"What is it?" Pomfrey said worriedly, edging closer. "Do you have a deep cut?"  
Harry shook his head. "No. It's. . . it's. . ." Unable to explain, he showed her the mark. The woman was 

strangely silent.  
"I think you had better see the headmaster." she finally said, expressionlessly. "You've still got your robes on, so you'd best go right now. The password's the same as before." She took the bowl and almost inaudibly, left the room.  
Harry stared after her in puzzlement for a second, and the rose and put his shoes, lying by the side of the bed, on. He too left the room, heading for the gargoyle that guarded the entrance to the head's office.  
"Smarties." he said shakily, his head still spinning with thoughts and ideas. The grey figure moved aside, and Harry ascended the stairs, two at a time.  
When he reached the door to the office, he knocked twice, and waited for the reply that came almost immediately. Entering, he saw Dumbledore sitting behind his long, antique desk.  
The man looked up as he entered. "Harry? What seems to be the problem?"  
Harry regained his voice. "I was in Transfiguration, and I was trying an Activus Crystal. When I came out of my trance, I was in the hospital wing, and I had this." he said nervously, his heart rate doubling as he showed the mark to the headmaster.  
Dumbledore looked at it, appearing to note every detail of it's shape. "When you were in your trance," he questioned, "did you see this creature?"  
"Yes." Harry replied earnestly, seeing Fawke's eyes upon him. "What is it? I've never heard of a winged lion before?"  
"It's a Golden Griffin." Dumbledore replied calmly, leaning back in his seat. "Gryffindor's house animal, actually."  
Staring at his headmaster in shock, Harry remembered where he was. "But I thought the lion was!" he blurted loudly, voicing his amazement.  
Dumbledore chuckled. "Not so. When a Golden Griffin has it's wings folded, it acts like a disillusionment charm. You wouldn't see them if your life depended on it. Gryffindor, however, decided to have his house picture with it's wings tucked away, which makes it look like a lion."  
Harry was silent for a moment. "But the lion on the house shield looks different from how I saw the Griffin."  
Dumbledore looked up at this. "How so?" he said sharply.  
"It's mane was. . . neater, I suppose. Longer, and flatter." Harry said, trying to remember. "It's ears were different. And it's eyes." He realised the headmaster's gaze was fixed on him. "Very interesting." the man whispered, sounding like he was talking to himself. "Slanted? Were it's eyes slanted?"  
"Yes." admitted Harry, his curiosity growing by the second. "How did you know?"  
Dumbledore waved it away. "That is a question, that I cannot say, yet." He sighed deeply. "It's a pity, that you won't have the chance to change into it now. . . just make sure that you _do_ register as a falcon, won't you?"  
Gaping like a fish, Harry stared at him. "S-sir?"  
Dumbledore smiled. "Ever since I found out about the Marauders' abilities, I had a few sensors put up, so anyone completing the transformation with 'Animagus Activus' would be written down with their form, in one of my books. Imagine my surprise when I saw you and Mr Weasley written there?"  
Harry stopped his aquatic impression. "Oh."  
"You have full permission to use your abilities for fun; but nothing that will hurt anybody, and stay out of the Forest." He gave the boy a serious look. "And if you choose to change, tell Miss Granger where you're going, and for how long. I'm being extremely lenient with you, here."  
"Yes, sir. Thanks." rushed Harry, wondering at his luck. "Sir, what happened to me?"  
"Well," the man replied, "according to Mr Weasley and Miss Granger, who were brought up here - for certain reasons that you might wish to discuss with them - you were holding the Crystal, when the blue Vision spell inside turned red. It burned onto your flesh, Professor McGonagall removed it as fast as she could, and took you to the Hospital Wing. The rest, you know.  
"I think you should skip the rest of Transfigurations. Miss Granger and Mr Weasley are in the Gryffindor common room. Please, don't be late for Charms."

~ ~ ~

By the time Harry left the headmaster's office, there were three questions he wanted answered.  
One: What was it that Dumbledore thought was interesting, and why wouldn't he tell him.  
Two: Why did the Griffin appear on his hand in the first place.  
Three: What was there to discuss with Hermione and Ron, and why were they, too, missing the rest of Transfigurations.  
His third question was answered when he reached the common room, and saw his two friends talking, sitting in the armchairs by the fire.  
"Hey." he said cheerfully, taking a seat.  
"You okay, mate?" Ron asked anxiously, looking at the boy. Harry nodded. "Fine as I can be. I've got a weird mark on my hand though."  
There was silence.  
"Is it of a magical creature?" Hermione said urgently, while Ron looked startled. "Is it the same creature you saw in your trance?" Harry looked at her strangely. "Yeah, it is. How did you know?"  
"We have the same." Ron answered, trying to calm down. "Just after you - you know, passed out, we both got these weird pains on our hands."  
"And when we looked, there were the outline of the same animals from our trances. Our Spirit Guides." Hermione finished. "I have a Black Unicorn, rearing up on my palm. Ron has a red Phoenix in mid-flight."  
Harry gulped. "I have a Golden Griffin. Rearing, like Hermione's." he whispered, holding out his hand for them to see.  
Ron looked between the two others. "Something really weird's going on." he said worriedly. "Dumbledore didn't have a clue about why we had them, but you could see that he knew what they were."  
"He knew about you two being Animagus' as well." Hermione added. "There are sensors."  
"Yeah, he told me." Harry said quietly. "What I want to know is, why have we got these?"  
Hermione stood up immediately. "I'm going to check the library. There must be _something_. We're the only ones, you know. No one else got them."  
Harry swore.  
"I'm going to find out what's going on." Hermione stated. "I'm going to the library." she then said again. "Are you coming?"  
"Definitely." Ron agreed. "Things are getting weird, and I want to know what's happening."  
"One for all, and all for one." Harry smiled faintly. "Let's go."  
  
  
  
_ About the Black Unicorn and Golden Griffin: The Black Unicorn, I actually thought up when I was planning the story. Then I read another fic (I can't remember the name, sorry) with Harry becoming a Black Unicorn. Darn! Well, I didn't want to get rid of a good idea, so I let it stay. Let's face it, with Harry able to fly, and Ron a cool-looking fox, why stick Herm' with a boring old pole-cat, even if it has a pretty pattern?  
Harry's Golden Griffin - I'm afraid that I _**did** _get this idea from HP and the Psychic Serpent. Sorry! You see, I wanted something that could fly, but I also wanted a lion (because of Gryffindor's animal). Barb answered both desires. (Please forgive me!)  
Oh, I found a really good 'Golden Griffin' picture, which I based it on - I didn't want to copy Barb word for word. Unfortunately, you can't post pictures here, and I don't have my own site. Believe me, it's a damn good, professionally painted pic, so PLEASE e-mail ryshora@hotmail.com to ask for it - I'm afraid I don't know who painted it, so tell me if you know.  
So, are the strange signs just a plot hook, something important, or a mixture of both? You'll soon find out!_  
  


| Harry's Lesson Timetable |   
| (And Ron's) |

  
** Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday**  
  
**1** Divin. DADA Free Time Herb. Free Time  
**2** Divin. DADA Free Time Herb. HOM  
** B - - - - -**  
**3** HOM Trans. Charms DADA Trans.  
**4** Potions Trans. Charms DADA Trans.  
** L - - - - -**  
**5** COMC Charms COMC Divin. Potions  
**6** COMC Charms COMC Divin. Potions  
**7** Herb. Potions HOM Trans. DADA  
**8** Herb. Potions HOM Charms COMC  
** - - - - -**  
** M** Ast. Ast.  
  
B = Break Please note, you can take extra tutoring in a  
L = Lunch subject if you wish.  
M = Midnight Please ask the teacher involved.  
Break = 30 minutes (Also, please realise that 'Free Time' is meant for homework,  
Lunch = 12:30 - 2:00 revision or relaxation from Astronomy. No messing around!)  
Each single lesson = 1 hour long Astronomy lessons are an hour long.  
Lessons start: 8:00  
Lessons end: 6:30  
  
**  
*** p.o'd is short for 'p*issed off'. I don't know whether Americans have that slang, so I thought I'd better add this note here. This is also the reason why I may change the rating to a PG, although probably not. I mean, it isn't as though I said anything _really_ rude. Oh well, who knows. By the end of this fic, it'll probably be PG-13 to R anyway. No, not because of swearing or *coughadultsituationscough*, but because I can't resist a bit of violence. Heck, you think Harry and Certain-Other-People-Who-I-Won't-Mention-Because-It-Would-Spoil-The-Plot aren't going to use their powers? Heck, no way!  
  
  
Please, e-mail me for timetables, O.W.Ls, etc, and now the Griffin pic.


	8. Chapter 8: Part 1

Disclaimer: Quack. I own the plot, Sterling, and the planet Earth. Quack. I don't own Harry P. or his buddies, enemies, pets, belongings, home and small daffodils. Quack. That was a test of the emergency disclaimer duck. (Quack!)  
Oh, and since you asked so nicely about 'is Harry an heir', I thought I'd clear it up this chapter. (I love those fics too!)  
The offer of e-mail stuff still holds! *Sniff* Only The Red Dragons Order and C. W. S. Matthews wanted the picture. *Sniff* By the way, Autumn is the British word for Fall.  
Well, I don't have much to say anymore. . . so on with the show!  
**  
** **New Spell Guide:**  
Mutare Elementa - Change Element

**Chapter 8: Part I  
Of Raven's Return and Revelations of R.O.S.E.  
**(Or, _Why It Makes Things A Lot Easier If You Tell Your Friends  
When You Receive Really Weird Messages._)

**PART I**

Dare to live - don't just spend your life avoiding death.  
~ Unknown

"I give up!" Harry growled, slamming the book down on the table. "How much information have we found so far? None! Nought! Nada! Zilch! Zip! Zero! Squat!"  
"It would help if you read the books, rather than looking up other words for 'nothing'." Hermione remarked snidely, leafing through the pages of a yellowing book. Harry glared at her. "_Verrrrryyy_ funny. We're going to have to go to the Prefect's meeting soon, you know."  
"And I bet you'll leave me behind to research." Ron moaned. He cracked his fingers. "My hands _hurt_. We've been here nearly two hours!"  
Hermione, filled with confidence in the books of the school library, continued searching. "Well, it isn't as if we haven't found out anything. We know. . . hang on. . ."  
Ron rolled his eyes at Harry, while Hermione searched under a pile of read books for her notepad.  
"Here it is!" she announced triumphantly, holding her prize. "It's nearly finished, though. Maybe I should get a new one. . ." the girl noticed the boys pointed looks. "Oh, sorry!" she said sheepishly. "Okay, the information we've gathered, so far. First of all, Animagus forms of magical animals, or Muggle animals with magic powers are extremely rare. Only one in five thousand people have them; that's including Magical and Muggle."  
"Right."  
"About the marks on our hands - a few famous wizards used to have them. Namely, Godric Gryffindor, Merlin, and Gwendolyn Gwestepucchi. She was an American witch, born to Italian parents, but she never did anything really important in her lifetime; she was just pretty powerful."  
There was silence.  
"Is that all?" Harry asked desperately. Hermione looked embarrassed. "Sorry. There's only a bit more, but it's not particularly important."  
"Yeah?" Ron coaxed, leaning closer. Hermione looked back at her notebook. "Uh. . . all three got their mark - it doesn't say what they were - when they were fifteen; like us; but they didn't get them from Activus Crystals. That's it, really."  
Ron slumped back. "That's it? It doesn't even say _how_ they got them?"  
"Well, I remember reading that Merlin got his when a Chinese Fireball attacked him." Hermione sighed as she tried to recall. "When Gryffindor got his is a bit of a mystery; he was apparently always travelling. One day he didn't have it, the next he did it - he wouldn't tell anyone how or why.  
"Gwestepucchi had hers after she heard a Fwooper song. For some reason, she didn't go mad."  
A thought struck Harry. "Hermione, do you know what Animagus forms they had?" Hermione looked at him, puzzled. "No, but we can find out. There's loads of books on the founders and Merlin. Why?"  
Harry held out his palm. "We all got the mark of our Animagus forms, right? Maybe if we can find out what forms_ they_ had, we could know their marks. Then, we might find a link."  
Ron looked impressed. "Great idea! I'll look for Merlin."  
"Harry, you do Gryffindor. I'll look for Gwestepucchi." Hermione said, her excitement restored. She leapt up, and dashed to the reference book of the Dewey Decimal System that the library used.  
"She's eager," Ron muttered, and got up. "They keep all the books on the founders behind you and to the left. We'll call each other if we find anything."  
Harry shrugged. "Okay."  
He got up, and went to the founder section. There were a few books on all of them, and a few on Helga Hufflepuff and Rowena Ravenclaw. Mainly, though, the books were about either Salazar Slytherin or Godric Gryffindor; they appeared to be the most powerful of the four.  
Looking across the shelf, a thin, red volume stuck out, and grabbed Harry's attention and curiosity. He tried to take it out - it was stuck. Grasping it, he pulled harder, and it finally gave way.  
A thick layer of dust covered it, showing it hadn't been read for years. Wiping the thick grey dust dirt off, Harry read the cover.

**T**_he _**L**_ife _**S**_tory _**O**_f _**G**_odric _**A**_sinald _**G**_ryffindor  
_By Regin Hewitt,  
acclaimed biographer and historian.

Opening it, Harry looked first at the previous readers. "Dumbledore took this out, over a century ago?" he muttered to himself in surprise, and ran his eyes down the surprisingly short list. 'T. Riddle' was also listed there, which gave Harry a small jolt; and, there, just two names down, was J. Potter.  
It took Harry a moment to digest this news. It wasn't really much; just finding a book that his father had read; but somehow, it seemed to Harry like the greatest thing possible.  
Remembering why he had been looking for a book, he flicked through to the table of contents. Finding the chapter named 'Age Fifteen to Twenty', he turned to the chapter, and scanned his eyes through.  
He found it quite quickly; Regin Hewitt, also, had no idea how Gryffindor had gained the mark - but fifteen was the age that he finally managed to turn into an Animagus - something that Gryffindor had been trying for two years.  
A Golden Griffin.  
Forgetting to breathe, Harry stared at the writing.  
  
_On that day, Godric perfected his form of Animagus, the creature that best suited his personality.  
It was the final effort of a practice that dated from when he was thirteen. (See previous chapter, for his beginnings to become an Animagus.)  
The news of his choice was released to his parents and those who knew him, as a Golden Griffin.  
  
_Harry quickly checked that the librarian wasn't around, and called out, "I found something!" He brought the book over to the table, and re-read it, checking his eyes weren't deceiving him. As he finished, Hermione came round the corner, carrying a thick book; 'Famous Wizards and Witches Throughout History, Volume Four'.  
"Is it anything important?" she asked, taking a seat behind him, and flipping through her book. Harry choked a strangled confirmation, when Ron also appeared. "I found something as well!" he announced. "I was just double checking when you called." He took a seat opposite Harry. "Your news first."  
"Okay." Harry said, calming himself. "I found Gryffindor's biography, and it says his Animagus form was a Golden Griffin."  
Hermione blinked.  
"Like your Spirit Guide form?" Ron asked slowly.  
"Yeah." Harry sighed. Hermione blinked again. "Can I see the book?"  
Harry passed it over, and leaned back. The girl took it, and looked intently at the pages, reading quickly.  
"How did you make it appear?" Ron asked, peering over Hermione's shoulder. Harry and Hermione looked at him strangely. "Ron? It's right there." Hermione said slowly, showing him the book. "'_On that day,_' and so on."  
Ron frowned. "I don't see anything. It looks like a blank page to me."  
Harry glanced over at it. "It's still there." he said, and Hermione gave a gasp. "Maybe there's something you have to do or be, to read it," she suggested, and turned back to the introduction.  
"Hey!" Harry shouted, alarmed.  
"Honestly, I'm not losing your page. I swear, you're turning into- never mind."  
"She was going to say herself." Ron nodded wisely.  
"Here!" she said proudly, and held the book closer. "I was right. Listen to this. '_Be warned that not everyone shall be  
able to read this book. Only certain people can look within and see the writing; namely, the -_'" Her voice trailed off.  
"The. . .?" questioned Ron, watching as her face turned to one of utmost shock. She looked up at Harry. "_Namely, the heirs of the Founders._" she whispered, barely heard.  
Ron gave a small whistle, and Harry nearly fell off his chair. "The heirs of the Founders? You mean, their descendants?"  
Hermione nodded, and turned a few of the pages. "The contents say there's Gryffindor's family tree near the end of the book. It updates automatically. I suppose in the biographies of the other Founders, their family trees are at the back."  
"Check the tree." Ron said automatically. "If you two are related to the Founders, you'll be on one of the pages."  
Harry agreed immediately, and waited as Hermione flicked through. "There." she announced. "Godric Gryffindor married Evelyn Wanscott, and they had Thomas Gryffindor. . . hang on. . ." Turn, turn, turn - after about fifty more page turns, she found the end of the family tree. "Lucille Varin married Darrell Potter. They had James Potter, who married Lily Evans."  
Ron swore. "Bloody Hell! You're the heir of Gryffindor, Harry!"  
Harry stopped as the thoughts sank in. "No. . . that can't be right. I mean, I'm nothing special-"  
Hermione snorted. "Honestly, Harry! You defeated Voldemort, you stopped Quirrel, you fought Riddle - and you're nothing special? Stop denying it!"  
Harry opened his mouth to retort, but then thought better of it. "Is Dumbledore there? He took the book out, so he must be an heir of one of the Founders."  
Hermione looked back up the list. "Yes, he's here. . . son of Tameron Caitling and Marcus Dumbledore. He's not too far up the list, actually. That would make Dumbledore your great, great grandfather, twice removed, Harry!"  
The boy held up his hands. "Okay, wait. This is going far too fast. Before we start working out family relations, are you on it?" Hermione shook her head. "I should be down the bottom, but I'm not there. I must be the heir of another."  
"You get all the fun." Ron sighed, leaning back. "By the way, about _my_ book? Merlin had a dragon form. And guess what it was? A Chinese Fireball."  
Hermione took a breath. "So his form was a dragon; which means his mark was of the same type; and he gets in after being attacked by a dragon?"  
"Bit of a coincidence." Ron smirked. "And I'd bet my new dress robes that Gwenda-thingy's Animagus form was a Fwooper."  
Hermione frowned. "That's what my book says. So, these two come into contact with their forms - and they get the mark?"  
Harry frowned. "That sounds likely. It was probably chance that we got our mark when we discovered what our forms were."  
"Okay, great." Ron said, closing his book. "And now for the jackpot questions; why have we got it? What's it for? And what's it do?"  
Hermione was first to answer. "The third question's easy; it marks us as something. The real question is, as what? My guess is that Harry's got it from his ancestor, Godric Gryffindor. Something passed down, like Gene Curses, or Family Blessings.  
"After all, they had the same mark and the same form. They both got it when they were fifteen. Don't you think that's a little suspicious?"  
"So what about us?" quizzed Ron. "None of the other Founders had a mark, so it's not the same reason for you, and definitely none of _ my_ relatives did."  
Hermione sighed. "I don't know."  
"I know one thing." Harry said grimly. "This is what Dumbledore didn't want to tell me. Maybe even why Voldemort wanted to kill me."  
Silence.  
"Oh, heck." Ron groaned, closing his eyes. "This is way too much."

~ ~ ~

After the library, there was the Prefect's meeting with the heads of house. The dates of Hogsmeade weren't that important to the three; as fifth years they could visit any time they wanted.  
Then, after that, it was Lunch, during which Harry had a crowd of people hanging round and asking whether he was alright after his trance in Transfiguration. After Harry had shaken Dennis Creevey off him for the fourth time, the three decided to go back to the Gryffindor tower, and hide away in one of the dorms, where they could finish the books in peace.  
"This is interesting," Hermione pointed out, as she munched on a sandwich, whilst reading one of her books. "It seems Gryffindor was just a normal wizard until he got his mark. Only then did he start becoming really powerful."  
"Same for Merlin." Ron announced. "There's nothing about Gwendolyn, unfortunately. If she were a bit more famous, there'd be a biography of her. No such luck, though."  
Harry made a vague 'm' sound to show that he'd heard, and reached out for another Chocolate Frog.  
"Hey!" he said suddenly, sitting bolt upright on his bed, staring at the biography. "Listen to this - Gryffindor had a pet - a 'jet-black raven', named Sterling, because of her silver beak!"  
"Sterling?"  
"Raven?"  
"Is there anything else?" Hermione urged, hurrying to look over Harry's shoulder.  
"Yeah," he told her in amazement. "She was an Aldor Raven. Just like _my_ Sterling." Ron looked at him. "Are you sure they're not _both _your Sterling?"  
Harry narrowed his eyes. "What?"  
"Don't you think it a little strange," Ron said coolly, "that you and Gryffindor both have a black raven, of the same species. They're the same gender, they have the same beak, and they have the same name. Hm?"  
Hermione shook her head. "That's impossible. They live for a long time, but nowhere near over a millennia. Besides, I bet it doesn't say anything about the gem, and that's pretty important."  
"But that gem could easily have been added after the biography was written!" argued Ron. He slumped back on his bed. "This is way too confusing."  
"I'll say." Harry groaned. "Charms for us next, then potions. Astronomy at midnight. Herm'?"  
"Charms and Herbology. I had Astronomy last night." she replied, and closed her book. "I'm going to find the other Founders books." Hermione declared. "Then I'll find out who I'm an heir of."  
"Ravenclaw." Ron sad with certainty. Hermione looked at him thoughtfully. "Maybe, but it could be Hufflepuff. Or, I might be another heir of Slytherin."  
"But in the Chamber of Secrets, he said he was the last heir." Harry thought aloud. Hermione smiled. "He was probably bragging. For all he knows, his great, great, great grandparents could have had siblings; and their family would be heirs too."  
Ron shuddered. "Don't mention it Herm'. I think I'd have a heart attack if you were related to You-Know-Who."  
"Thanks." Hermione said. She rose, and took her book. "Best get to Charms. We're starting weather changing, which I think sounds fascinating."  
"Yeah, well. You thought Flobberworms were 'fascinating' when you first saw them." Ron retorted, but did the same.

~ ~ ~

The Charms lesson turned out to be outside for the day, apparently because they would be starting with creating water and fire. Charms, as with most of the core subjects, was just the Gryffindors. Ignoring the worried looks he received from Lavender and Parvati, who were talking in hushed whispers about omens and Trelawney, Harry took out his wand, and gathered round Professor Flitwick with the rest of the class.  
"First, we shall be practicing creating rain," the diminutive teacher squeaked, holding his wand up high, "and after, we'll be creating fire. After that, you will create a fire, and make rain to put it out. Understand?"  
There were murmurs of affirmation from the class. Professor Flitwick smiled. "Good. Now, the way you hold your wand doesn't matter with weather spells. Just focus on the desired element, and say 'mutare elementa'. Everyone, space out."  
Moving further away from the teacher and class, Harry listened to the next instructions.  
"Remember, focus on rain!" Flitwick repeated, and held his wand up. "This is what will happen. _Mutare Elementa! _" The tip of his wand glowed pale blue for a second, and then a litre or so of water fell like rain from no where, out of the sky in front of him, and landed in the grass. "Now, that was a pretty powerful one." he explained, "So you won't be able to do anything like that for a while - especially not today." Flitwick looked round at his class. "You're all spaced out well, so begin."  
Harry watched the others at first, to see whether there was a particular way to perform the spell.  
Seamus managed to get a faint glow, and about a tenth as much water as Flitwick. Dean, who performed the charm at the same time, managed to get a more powerful glow, but slightly less water.  
Harry didn't see Parvati, but Lavender got about half a litre, something that surprised Harry, and even Neville got a small glow and a few drops.  
Hermione, brilliant as ever, got a whole litre, as much as the professor, for which Flitwick applauded her.  
Ron's was even more surprising than Lavenders. He only got a bit more than Neville, for which he stared at his wand in shock, and tried shaking it, as if water would start flowing out of it if he broke it.  
Turning away, Harry held his wand in front of him. "Okay then," he commanded, "_Mutare Elementa_!"  
A bright blue shone around the entirety of Harry's wand, which was nothing to what happened next. A small, dark grey, storm cloud grew in the air a few feet in front of Harry and above, and with a sudden roar, a torrent of flood water rushed down, tens of litres, soaking the dry ground below.  
Jumping back, to escape the quickly forming puddle, Harry stared at the storm cloud, that was now slowly starting to dissipate. "What on Earth. . .?" he muttered, lowering his wand, and noticing the astounded faces of the others.  
Professor Flitwick gave a tiny shriek. "That - that was. . . very good, Mr Potter! Excellent work. Twenty points to Gryffindor." he said, looking faint.  
Harry looked around at the others. The Trelawney Fan Club were looking thrilled, and Dean and Seamus seemed to think it was 'cool'. Neville was impressed, Hermione was pleased, and Ron was. . . jealous. '_Damn._' Harry thought, and put his wand away.  
Hermione won ten points for getting a litre of water, and Lavender got five for making half as much.  
Class continued as usual for the rest of the lesson, except for even more funny looks. '_Great._' Harry thought angrily, kicking at the grass. '_Just what I wanted. More attention._'  
Soon, everyone could managed manage at least half a litre - even Neville. Strangely, it took Ron longer than Neville to create the same amount, which no-one could explain. It seemed Ron had some kind of natural disability for water spells.  
However, he did make up for it in the second half of the lesson, with fire.  
The incantation for fire was the same, but instead, the students would focus on that element, rather than water.  
"Now, the fire spell is different to the blue-fire spell you learnt in first year." Flitwick enlightened them. "First, it's a proper fire, rather than a blue one. Next, it's much more powerful, and burns hotter and faster than normal fire. Plus, it can burn even inflammable material. Because of this, you'll do it one at a time, in case they get out of control. Everyone, stand back. . . good. Now, unless we have any more _surprises_," he glanced at Harry, "it should look like this. _Mutare Elementa_!"  
This time, the tip of his wand glowed an iridescent red, and a sudden, flickering jet of flame blew up from the grass in front of him. "_Mutare Elementa_." he said again, and a bout of water fell down, destroying it.  
"In alphabetical order, come out, and try to burn the ground. Miss Brown, you first." He moved aside, and let Lavender take his place. She cast the spell, and a small burst of flame shot up from the grass, burning merrily. Flitwick clapped excitedly, and put it out with a different water spell. "Mr Finnigan."  
Seamus seemed to be as good with water as with fire. His jet of flame was slightly larger than Lavenders', reaching higher, and taking more space on the ground.  
Hermione was next; she too had a success. Her flame roared loudly, reaching nearly three feet in height, and half that in width, which meant another five points for Gryffindor.  
Neville, unfortunately, broke their good streak. His flame would barely be strong enough to light a match. Disappointed, Neville moved out the way so Parvati could try; she got her flame nearly as tall as Lavender, though it wasn't as wide.  
Harry came up next, and the crowd of people sub-consciously moved further back. "_Mutare Elementa_." he said. After the water, it came as no surprise when the brilliant red glow was all round his wand, and a roaring jet of fire lanced up, thick black smoke pouring off the top.  
However, it was a surprise that it was as big as a bonfire.  
The grass surrounding it was incinerated within seconds by the heat pouring off, and Harry quickly cast a rain spell. This time, the dark cloud hovered over the fire, and more then ten litres came out; the fire was out within half a minute, as Ron's face darkened considerably with anger, and Professor Flitwick nearly hyperventilated with a mixture of shock and excitement, which he came out of to award another twenty points, putting Gryffindor in the lead for the house cup.  
Harry kept his head low, and pretended he hadn't done anything unusual as Dean had his turn - he managed to get an incredibly hot, but small fire, that scorched the already burnt earth.  
Even Harry's display, however, was nothing to Ron's.  
'Weasley' was last up, and with his failure at the water, it was expected that he would be as bad at fire. Could anyone have been any more wrong?  
Ron raised his wand, and pointed it at the grass, eyes narrowed. "_Mutare Elementa_." he said loudly, and the others threw their hands in front of their faces, to protect themselves from the heat, which burst onto them fiercely, with incredible force and speed.

~ ~ ~

"I just can't believe it!" Hermione exclaimed happily, as the three made their way to their respective classes. "I mean, Harry was great at them both. But that fire, Ron; that was - unbelievable!"  
"It was incredible." Harry agreed, remembering the fire. "It must have been twenty feet tall!"  
"You know, if we'd have been any closer, we'd have really bad burns." Hermione pointed out. "That thing was _huge_."  
"Like I didn't see," Ron laughed. "I just can't believe I did that. I mean, I was terrible at the water, but I was even better than Harry at fire."  
"Well, it does make sense." Hermione pointed out. "It's like having less of one, so you have more of another. You're really bad at water, so you're incredible at fire, or the other way round. Fire and water are opposites of each other, after all."  
"We're heading left, here." Harry said, interrupting the pair. "See you after lessons."  
"See you." Hermione said cheerfully, and continued walking, while Ron and Harry turned off. "I've been thinking," Ron said slowly, "about the books."  
Harry looked at him, interested. "Yeah?"  
"Well, the books say that _they_ became more powerful after they got the you-know-whats." Ron said slowly. "And, I mean, Hermione's good, but not enough to get as much water as the teacher on her first go, or get that much fire. And there's no way I could get that much fire in my life; or you with either of the spells. So, maybe our magic power has gone up?"  
Harry thought about it. "That makes sense, actually. You're right, none of us are - _were _that good. And the books did say th- Potions."  
"Huh? Oh, right." Ron said, as he realised they had reached the classroom. "Pity it won't increase our knowledge of poisons."   
"It's something I'd trade for." Harry sighed, and went in.

~ ~ ~

Although Snape was as much of a git as ever, the lesson was perfectly normal - although the Slytherins were keeping away from Harry and Ron, based on the rumours of last lesson that they had heard on their way to Potions; something that the pair were entirely grateful for.  
As Harry got his homework back near the end of the lesson ( Grade C- ), his head snapped up as Snape told off Neville for talking; something that he wasn't doing, anyway. "It would help your scores, Mr Longbottom," he sneered, "if you weren't so vocal during lessons. That will be five points from Gryffindor."  
The unfairness of the situation wasn't what made Harry interested; it was the word, 'vocal', which made him remember something. . . he knew it began with 'vo', 'voc', 'voca', 'vocar' - 'Vocare'!  
A smile tugged at his lips. Finally, that was it. Vocare, from the letter. No, invitation; for tonight. The smile disappeared, and a frown took it's place. But what was the 'Vocare Room'?  
Was it one of Voldemort's tricks? He could answer that one; no. If Voldemort wanted to trick him into going somewhere, he'd give him a reason to go, rather than just the invitation.  
He gave a quiet sigh, making sure Snape didn't notice, and carried on with his work. Damn his curiosity. . . no. He wouldn't go, it could be dangerous - but if he took his wand; his magic powers were increasing, after all. . .  
Harry's inquisitiveness and common sense battled each other, until common sense finally won, with a well put 'where would you get the Floo Powder from, anyway?'.  
The second half of the lesson carried on as normal as the first, losing Gryffindor ten points, and gaining Slytherin fifteen. Interestedly, it was only Neville and Ron who lost points; Harry managed to stay so quiet and out of sight, thinking about 'the Vocare Room' that even Snape couldn't blame him for anything.  
Unfortunately, this meant Snape wasn't satisfied with the lesson, and meant extra homework for the class, on the many uses of centaur tail-hairs in antidotes.  
"That was Hell," Ron moaned as they left the room, Neville close behind, muttering '_mutare elementa_' over and over, under his breath. "I didn't understand half the stuff about reactions between centaur tail-hairs and scorpion venom!"  
"Well, we're still in the lead with house points." Harry said optimistically. Ron grinned. "Thanks to me."  
"Hey, I got forty points in Charms, you know. You only got thirty for your fire." his friend pointed out, and looked down at his schedule. "No more Potions 'til Friday, thank God."  
"My sentiments exactly." Ron smiled. He paused as they passed Lavender, "Didn't you have Herbology with Hermione? Where is she?"  
"She's seeing the wyverns!" Lavender called back, as she was swept away by the tide of students, who poured from the corridors as the lessons ended, chattering. Harry heard quite a few mentions of 'Harry...', 'Ron...', 'fire...' and 'Charms...' in the speech, and pushed himself further against the wall in the hopes of not being seen. "Let's get out to Hagrid's hut." Harry told Ron, and walked quickly outside, followed by the taller boy.

~ ~ ~

Hermione was, indeed, with the wyverns, along with Ginny and a few other fifth and fourth years, who had obviously been won over with stories of their incredible 'cuteness'.  
Ginny seemed to have adopted Prankster, while Hermione was playing a game of tag with Florence, Blur and Nadom. Ron and Harry stopped dead in their tracks at the sight of the usually uppity girl being chased around the wyvern pen, laughing.  
"Now, I've seen everything." Ron said in shock, and shook his head clear. "Hey, Nadom's there!" he said, as he saw the Floridian Ice Dragon, and rushed towards him. Harry followed suit, and the boys were soon playing with their wyverns, and explaining Ron's theory of their power increase.  
As Harry had thought she would, Hermione agreed with the speculation. "That sounds more than likely." Hermione informed them, struggling to keep hold of a rebellious Florence. "I know I wouldn't normally be able to create so much water or fire; even I'm not that good without any practice. Florence, stop squirming!" She finally gave up and released the wyvern, who immediately ran over to Nadom, and started making purring noises at him. Nadom crouched down, and started purring back.  
"What is _up_ with them?" Ron wondered aloud. "They sound like cats."  
"Don't even mention cats." Hermione growled. "Crookshanks has been terrible lately." Harry was surprised; he hadn't heard this. "What's wrong with him?"  
"He keeps disappearing." Hermione sighed, stroking Harry's wyvern, Blur. "He just grabs his food and disappears outside for days on end."  
"Get an owl." Ron said automatically. "Then you won't have to use school ones."  
Hermione glared at him. "I am most certainly _not_ replacing him! It's probably just a phase." Ron rolled his eyes. "That's what they all say."  
Giving up on the pair, Harry took Blur and drifted over to Ginny, leaving the sounds of the violent argument behind him.  
"Hey." he said casually, sitting down next to the girl, and releasing Blur from his grasp. Prankster leapt up and glared at Blur, whose ruff raised angrily. "Oops. Maybe I shouldn't have brought him over here." Harry groaned, watching the pair of wyverns.  
"Her." Ginny corrected. Harry looked up at her. "Pardon?"  
"Her." she repeated. "Your wyvern's a girl. She's got thicker tail than the males. The ones with thick tails are girls, and the thin tails are boys."  
"Oh." Harry said, feeling a bit stupid. "Hagrid didn't mention that." Ginny shrugged. "When Hermione told me how nice they were, I found a book on them. It mentioned tha- **NO**!" she suddenly shrieked, as the sweet little girl wyvern bit down on the nice little boy wyvern's tail, who let out a squeal of pain, and scratched the others' face. Before Ginny or Harry could stop them, a full fledged fight broke out between the two. Blur's name came into play, and Prankster seemed to be using every trick in the book.  
It was impossible to tell where one Longruff began and the other ended, as they viciously fought with fang and claw, pressed tight in a sort of ball, rolling over the ground.  
Out the corner of his eye, Harry saw that everyone, even Ron and Hermione, had stopped arguing to watch the pair of hissing, screeching wyverns. '_Ron was right_,' Harry thought desperately, '_they really are like cats_.'  
There seemed to be no other way to stop the pair, so he did the only thing he could thick of. "_Mutare Elementa! _" he called, pulling out his wand, and pointing at the fighting duo, focusing on a small amount of rain, rather than the torrent he had created previously.  
Immediately, a small shower poured down onto them, making them leap apart, hissing in shock.  
"Nice work." Ginny complimented, as Harry brought his wand down, and the rain ended. "Thanks." he replied, and looked sternly at the wyverns. He could swear they were looking embarrassed. "Don't do that again." he reprimanded, and gathered Blur in his arms. "Sorry, Ginny."  
"That's okay," the girl sighed, looking Prankster over. "The show's over!" she called to the watching crowd, who remembered where they were, and pretended not to have been watching.  
"Isn't that boy from your year?" Ginny asked, squinting in the sunlight as she looked towards the school. "He's running."  
Harry looked now, and saw a figure running towards them, flat out. Now the individual was closer, Harry recognised it as Seamus Finnigan. "Yeah," he informed Ginny, noticing Hermione was pointing him out to Ron, "That's Seamus Finnigan. He's in my year, and Gryffindor."  
"Everyone!" the boy hollered, gasping as he stopped at the wyvern pen. He waved a Daily Prophet in the air. "You won't believe it! There's been a Death Eater attack!"  
For a moment, there was a shocked hush. Then, everyone started talking at once.  
"What? -"  
"Is Voldemort behind it? -"  
"What if they -"  
"Was anyone killed? -"  
"Where? -"  
"How many? -"  
"Were they caught? -"  
"_Calm down! _" Harry shouted, and everyone turned to look at him. "We're not going to find out anything at this rate. Just tell us the basics of the article, Seamus."  
The boy nodded and cleared his throat. "Okay; it only happened this morning, that's why the papers didn't arrive; they cancelled them to get more information on this attack. There were about twenty Death Eaters attacking some streets in Southampton. Forty three Muggles dead, six Wizards. They caught three of the Death Eaters. Dark Marks over all the dead. The Ministry's going nuts!"  
"I'm not surprised, with nearly fifty people dead." Hermione gasped in horror. A few others nodded in agreement, while one fourth year boy paled considerably. "My family live in Southampton." he whispered shakily. "Do they say who. . .?"  
"No. . ." said Seamus helplessly, not knowing what to say. The boy leapt up, letting go of his wyvern. "I have to send an owl!" he cried, fleeing the pen.  
Ginny let out a small sigh, as the former mood of happiness was completely destroyed. "That's. . . terrible."  
Harry nodded. "Yeah, it is. I think I'm going to go inside, okay?"  
"Sure." Ginny replied quietly, and Prankster gave her a comforting lick. "See you tomorrow, Blur." he said, giving the blue beast a final scratch behind it's pointed ears, and leaving.

~ ~ ~

However, although Harry was heading in the direction of the school, we wasn't going to be staying in it for a long time. Ten minutes later, he was at the window of his dorm, stretching his snow-white wings, freckled with long, black circles of coloured feathers.  
'_Okay_,' he thought calmly, preparing himself for what was coming. '_Pretty simple, really. Just let the bird do the flying. If anything goes wrong, you'll be a nice, messy mark on the ground. If you get it right, you have a new form of stress relief.' _He thought about the two cases.'_Okay, I'm nuts_.' he groaned silently, and gave in.  
He dived.  
Suddenly, the ground was rushing up at him, the air shooting past his brilliant feathers, slowing him down slightly. Still, though, he plummeted. '_Wings! Spread my wings! _' he thought desperately, and finally, his body kicked in to what his mind was saying. As the grass below neared ever closer, his wings shot out from his sides, slowing his descent.  
At first, he hovered shakily in the air, uncertain of what to do, before deciding that he'd have to start flying _some time_, if not now. Oh, stuff it all. he grumbled aloud, even though there was no-one around to hear him, and tilted his wings slightly upwards, which he found made him go lower, slowly and gently.  
However, he soon discovered, if he tilted his head down, and his body up, whilst slanting his wings as before, then he shot down to the ground at top speed.  
Needless to say, he was a bit terrified when he discovered that one at first.  
After ten minutes of testing, trying and practicing, he could finally slow or speed up to however fast he wanted to go, with no difficulty. Dives were a little worrying, as it was completely different to being on a broom. Going lower slowly, or going higher at any speed, he quickly got the hang of, as well as normal flapping or gliding, and turning.  
He quickly stopped when he realised that he was, in fact, rather obvious, flapping about outside the Gryffindor tower, and looked around with his heightened vision to see whether anyone was watching, hovering with his wings spread wide.  
He cursed his stupidity as he saw a gaggle of five or so first years watching his progress and pointing, and felt slightly humiliated; hoping that they hadn't been watching when he was making a fool of himself, he glanced around again. A sixth year boy was watching from one of the towers, but it seemed he'd only just looked out.  
Not wishing to stop flying - he had to admit, it was nearly as fun as Quidditch; it would be possibly more so, once he was used to it - he rose a few metres higher into the air, which meant he would be faster, and swooped down, past the students, and over the Forbidden Forest.  
Now that he was properly flying, over a distance, rather than in a small area, his form's natural mind and instincts kicked in.  
Every feather moved individually, acting as rudder or propeller, to let him twist himself, shift angles, or change height and speed. Catching sight of a glimmer of movement at the edge of the Forest, Harry slowed to an almost top, gently flapping on the light, cool breeze.  
The clouds were so much closer here, and with Harry's new eyesight, meant that it seemed only a few inches, sometimes less, away.  
Drifting slightly closer, Harry realised the person was none other than Draco Malfoy, stealing out of the grounds. Confused, he settled lower, and landed on a dying tree, keeping a pair of beady eyes fixed on his rival.  
Malfoy looked like his normal, smirking self, dressed in a black robe that hung low on the ground, rustling over the few leaves that had fallen off the trees after Autumn.  
A faint, boiling anger overcame Harry. Was he going to a Death Eater meeting? To be initiated, or was he already? With the thoughts of informing Dumbledore running through his mind, Harry took flight again, and followed the boy stealthily.  
Malfoy pushed on, deeper into the Forest, following the practically invisible path and nearly straying from it a few times, Harry gliding softly behind and overhead, where he wouldn't be seen.  
The boy stopped when he came to a small clearing, devoid of animal life. Malfoy got down on his hands and knees, looking on the ground in front of one of the trees. Finding nothing in the grass, he moved on to the next.  
Although _he_ couldn't see it, Harry could, easily. A small, blue, plastic ring, looking entirely out of place in the uninhabited wooded area, was nestled in a patch of grass. What made it more out of place, however, was that it was glowing a pale yellow.  
Malfoy finally found it, and either didn't notice the glow, or didn't think it strange, as he didn't react to it in the slightest. Picking it up, he slipped it on one of his fingers, and held it to his mouth. "Four, oh, three." he spoke into it, and suddenly disappeared.  
Harry blinked, and looked around. No, he was definitely gone. Sighing slightly, Harry briefly wondered about the glowing ring, and the reason for 'four, oh three'.  
With his proof gone, it was hardly likely he could go to Dumbledore; although, he admitted to himself as he thought about it, _he_'d rather be the one to prove Malfoy as a Death Eater, than to wait for others to get the much needed evidence; like that personalised Portkey, or whatever it had been.  
On the other hand, Portkeys didn't glow like that. . .  
And Death Eaters seemed to only have their meetings at night. . .  
Deciding his doubts were ludicrous, and turning back, Harry rose into the air and flew swiftly back towards the school. After all, if Malfoy wasn't a Death Eater in training, then what _was_ he. . .?

~ ~ ~

Lunch was as brilliant as ever, even though he had to endure questions about where he had been, and what he was doing from Ron and Hermione.  
He mouthed an 'I'll tell you later' to Ron when Hermione was distracted, and explained to the girl how he had been in the dorm, reading. He was certain that Hermione wouldn't take kindly to him or Ron sneaking out as Animagus' without her having even started her training yet, and opted not to tell either Ron _or_ Hermione what he had seen Malfoy do. If he had to listen to Ron yell about Malfoy being a Death Eater, one more time. . .  
He shook his head clear, and buttered a roll. "So, you were out flying, then?" Hermione asked cheerfully, passing him some more butter (he didn't seem to have enough). Harry nearly cut his finger with the knife, and stared at her.  
"Were you watching me?" '_Well, there goes the idea of her being angry._'  
"Of course not." Hermione sighed, " - are you even having this butter? - no, it's just I heard a first year saying there was a; and I quote; 'big hawk-thing acting mental'. When I heard it, naturally I thought of you."  
"Real smooth way to make him feel insulted, Herm'." Ron grinned, snatching the butter out of her hand. "Harry, why didn't you tell me you were going flying? I'd have gone. . . well, running."  
Harry shrugged. "Sorry. I dunno really, just wanted to practice. I didn't tell you now, because I thought Hermione would be annoyed we didn't wait for her."  
"Oh, yes. I'm just _so _angry that you wanted to have some fun without me. You should have waited a year or so, for me to become a -" she shut up as some students passed.  
Harry held up his hands in mock surrender. "Okay, okay. No need to be sarcastic. Besides, even if you aren't as fast as me and Ron, you're smart. You'll probably change within a few weeks anyway." Hermione looked a mixture of 'proud' and 'oh, I'm not that good'.  
"So, are you sticking with polecat, or changing to unicorn?" Ron asked cheerfully, waving his fork for emphasis. "I think you should change to unicorn, that'd be _way _cooler."  
Hermione, however, didn't agree. "No, I'm sticking with polecat." Ron looked at her in surprise, while this time, Harry did cut himself. "Ow! Why?"  
"For the same reasons that I didn't want to change into a wyvern." Hermione explained. "It would attract too much attention, and you two have Muggle animals, so why should I have magical?"  
"Well, **I **don't mind if you have a unicorn!" Ron hissed as loudly as he could without attracting attention. Hermione looked p*ssed. "Oh, so you're choosing my forms, now, are you?" she snapped, standing slightly.  
"I didn't me-" Ron hastily added, but Hermione was quicker. "You-"  
"That's it!" Harry said in desperation, and grabbed the pair by the neck of their robes. "I've had it with your arguing! We're going to have a nice, civil conversation, with _no_ blowing into a rage. Got it?"  
The pair nodded silently.  
"Good." Harry said, sitting down calmly, as if nothing had happened. "Now, Hermione. How's your book coming along?"  
Hermione shuffled uncomfortably. "Pretty well. I did some more last night. I've finished the draft of the first eight chapters, and I've started writing the introduction and first chapter out properly. At the rate I'm going, I'll probably have it completely finished by next year. And then, you can register as Animagus'." she finished evenly, glaring round at them.  
Ron shrugged, but added his own thoughts. "You'll probably be an Animagus by then, so you'll register too, Marbly."  
"Don't call me Marbly." Hermione warned, and snapped her figures. "Oh! I just remembered, about the book. I'll need your and Harry's help for the Quidditch section. That's the chapter I'll be doing a rough of next.  
Harry nodded. "Sure. I just hope they hurry up and start Quidditch again soon. I haven't flown since last year, and we still need to get a captain, Keeper and two Chasers." He winced. "Damn! We're going to be picking practically the whole team this year! And next, Fred and George will be leaving. . ."  
"Well, you'll have me on the team, soon." Ron said proudly. "I've been practicing as Keeper the whole Summer."  
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Just because you practiced doesn't mean you'll get on the team, Ron. There are loads of people trying out."  
"Yeah, well. Just keep your fingers crossed." Ron said, slightly disappointed.  
"And hope for the best." joked Harry, finishing the Chudley Cannons' team motto. He rose, and pushed his chair in. "I'm going to the dorm. Have an early night, and all. It's Astronomy at midnight."  
"Good point." Ron approved. "But I'll just sleep it off in Free Time tomorrow." Hermione sighed quietly. "Great. Now you're making me wish I'd cancelled Divination properly. I have an extra lesson than you, so I don't get any Free Time at all."  
Ron looked sympathetic, and Harry left, feeling slightly sorry for his friend. 

~ ~ ~

At his empty dorm, Harry flung himself on his bed, but couldn't get to sleep. Rolling over, he tried again.  
Nothing.  
"Damn." he muttered, and, poised on the end of his bed to unlock his trunk. '_If anything will, _Prefects Who Gained  
Power_ will make me fall asleep._' Harry thought, and opened the lid.  
Nearly falling off his bed, he blinked and looked again at what was lying on top of his school books - which he was certain had been on the top when he went to Lunch. Three small pieces of parchment, and _something_ wrapped in a small bag of white paper, tied with a twist at the top. Picking up the parchments first, he read the writing on them.  
  
Four of Wands, reverse. New relationships possible, new goals, new ambitions, action.  
then,  
Ace of Wands, upright. A creative beginning, a new business venture, a profitable journey, an inheritance, a new career, a birth in the family.  
and finally,  
The Fool, upright. New beginnings, new adventures, new opportunities, unlimited possibilities, pleasure, passion, thoughtlessness, rashness.  
  
He fished down the side of his trunk quickly - the parchments were still there, with their predictions and possible meanings on. Someone had taken the trouble to find them, copy them out; excluding the meanings; and put them at the top of his belongings? But who, and why? He put the parchments in one of his robe's pockets, and looked warily at the package.  
It was small, and quite soft looking. Giving in, he picked it up. It was light, and whatever was in it rubbed against the wrapping, sounding like salt or sugar.  
Undoing the twist at the top, he peered inside. There was another note, but on Muggle paper. . . and also. . .

  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
End of Chapter 9, Part I

Oooh, I'm eeevvillll!! ^_~  
I remembered all your reviews from last time, begging for more cliffies, since you loved it so much; so, how could I not give you another one?  
By the way, you can easily work out what the package is, if you just read through the chapter carefully. All the clues are there, just as before!   
E-mail or review, ta ta for now! ^_^  
(Griffin offer still on, and personally, if you're hooked on this fic, you should take a look at it; otherwise, you won't have a clue what it looks like. It's hard to explain in writing.)


	9. Chapter 8: Part 2

Disclaimer: Do you speak Micronesia-Spiderish? I don't own Harry Potter and co. but then, who does? Well, J. K. Rowling, some film producers, etc, but not me. Heck, no.  
Oh, and some little weirdo challenged me to put someone screaming 'Commie Mutant Traitor!' in this fic, so don't blame me for the weirdness.  
By the way, and Regina will be popping up a lot, in this fic and the sequels. Blame Red. (J/K, Red!)  
Important note; DEUS is pronounced /Day-ús/. That's /ús/ as in 'humongous', 'delicious', 'vicious'.  
Yup, as I've been promising since the beginning, it's time for DEUS and Sterling to make a grand entrance.  
Take it away, guys!  
  
**New Spell Guide:**  
Mutare Elementa - Change Element  
Predecerus - A take on predecessor  
||~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~||  
| By the star, below: If you take this sentence by itself, it sounds completely crazy. (^_^) |  
||~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~||

**Chapter 8: Part II  
Of Raven's Return and Revelations of R.O.S.E.  
**(Or, _Why It Makes Things A Lot Easier If You Tell Your Friends  
When You Receive Really Weird Messages._)

_His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad,  
His hair is as dark as a blackboard..._  
~ A very annoying song, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

  
Undoing the twist at the top, he peered inside. There was another note, but on Muggle paper. . . and also, what looked like, to the casual observer, white, glittering powder. To knowledgeable wizards and witches, however, it was Floo Powder, a magical method of transportation - if you had use of a fire, of course. For some reason, it appeared to be glowing a faint green, but Harry made that out to be a trick of the light.  
Reaching inside, Harry grasped the note between two fingers and pulled it out, looking at it carefully.  
  
_As you did not have any, we believed it wise to give you this.  
The owner of the Vocare Room.  
  
_ was written on the paper in gold ink. Harry sat back on his bed and snarled inwardly. Great! It looked like it was time fore another battle between the Marvellous Curiosity and the Fantastic Common Sense. He chased the thoughts from his mind by running over what Vocare actually _was_.  
It wasn't English, that was certain. It didn't sound like French, or German, Spanish, Italian - although, he was nowhere near being an expert in those languages.  
Latin was probably his best bet, so Harry reached further down his trunk, finally taking out a thin volume. He opened it to 'V', and started looking. It took a few minutes, but he finally found it; vocare; to summon, or call.  
'_Okay_,' Harry thought, glancing back at the note. '_Now I'm confused._' He put the book back, sighing. It wasn't as if it meant anything he could understand - he was expecting it to say 'wizard' or 'magic', or even 'confusing', which would have fit perfectly.  
Looking back at the Floo Powder, he measured it out as best as he could. By the depth of the package, and it's apparent volume, there would be enough for about thirty uses or so. Before he could think of why there was so much, he turned his thoughts to whether he was going.  
"_No_." he decided forcefully. '_It may not seem like it, but it could still be a trick. It's just too easy_.' he insisted to himself, and stood up, realising he wouldn't be able to get any sleep at this rate, with such thoughts running around his mind.  
"Library." he said aloud, and started to head downstairs. As he neared the stairs however, a fluttering made him turn. "Sterling?" he almost yelled in shock, quieting himself just in time. "Why did you go?" he asked, rushing to the bird, who landed on his outstretched arm indifferently. "Why did you go?" he repeated, almost scolding, almost pleading. "And where? Are you really Gryffindor's?"  
The bird looked at him suddenly at this. It seemed that whatever Sterling had been expecting, it wasn't this. The sentence had - if you'll excuse the pun - distinctly ruffled her feathers.  
Harry gave a victorious smile. "I thought so. You are, aren't you? But _what_ are you, really?"  
The bird just gazed at him, and, raising it's wings, took off and flapped, almost silently, over to Harry's bed, where it gazed evenly at him, as though expecting him to rush over and grab her.  
"Fine." the boy announced, turning on his heel, and pausing at the door to the stairs. "Fine. You stay here. But don't fly away again. I don't know why you've come back, or why you came in the first place. Maybe it's because I'm Gryffindor's heir, maybe for another reason. I don't really care. I just want to know what you are."  
He swung open the door and slipped out, rushing down the stairs, and leaving the now thoroughly shell-shocked bird behind.  
As he left, Harry had only one, repeating thought.  
'_I was talking to a bird. I've gone nuts._'

~ ~ ~

It turned out, much to Harry's relief, that Hermione and Ron were in the library, searching for the Founder's biographies. Ron was busy searching the shelves, while Hermione, as the only one of the two who could read the enchanted writing, was flicking through a yellow bound book which Harry guessed to be the biography of Helga Hufflepuff; the house colours of which being yellow and black.  
On the table, there lay what must be the biography of Rowena Ravenclaw, bound in a blue cover.  
Hermione was running down the pages angrily, a stony look set on her face.  
Harry let them know of his presence, by giving a sharp knock on the door. "Found anything?"  
"We don't know." Hermione snapped, looking up, eyes ablaze. "I thought you were having an early night?"  
"Couldn't sleep." Harry explained, not caring that he would probably incur the wrath of the girl. "So, what do you mean, you don't know?"  
"What she means," Ron mentioned, as he flitted from shelf to shelf, "is that the Gryffindor book was the only one in the right section, and it's hard work finding the others. It also means that we've managed to find Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, and she's not in either of them, so far. Which only leaves _one_ person."  
"Slytherin?"  
"Slytherin." Hermione ascertained bitterly, to which Ron added, "Slytherin! I've found it!" Pulling a thin volume down from one of the bookcases containing Dark Arts and Defence books, he threw it to Harry, who caught it easily with his Seeker reflexes. "You have a look at that, while Hermione finishes Ravenclaw." he told him, and Harry complied.  
Opening the book (a nasty shade of bottle-green), he turned to the back few pages, and traced his finger down the page.  
'_Maria Heinsickle married Jeffrey Turret. In the same generation, Faye Heinsickle married Mark Varin. Maria and Jeffrey had __Reynaldo Turret, and Faye and Mark had Lucille Varin. . ._' the name, 'Lucille Varin', struck a chord somewhere in Harry's memory. Something recent, not long ago - he ignored his thoughts, and continued reading. '_Lucille Varin married Darrell Potter, who had James Po - _'  
"**NO!**"  
Hermione dropped the book she was holding, and Ron leapt up from his homework. "Harry, what's wrong?"  
"Did you find Hermione?" Ron asked apprehensively , preparing for the worst. Hermione stayed silent, staring at the book.  
"No," Harry denied, "I just. . . I saw Voldemort. I knew I should have been expecting it, but it just came as a surprise, you know. I don't really know why." Hermione breathed an obvious sigh of relief. "Keep looking, then." Ron said thankfully, and turned back to his work.  
"Yeah." Harry said, putting on a weak smile and looking at the book. Stupid. Shouldn't have said that out loud. . . '_Okay.  
If Hermione's in here, she'll be on the same line as me, since she was born in the same generation. People on the  
same line are Mildred Turret - no, it says deceased 1989, Erick Falls, deceased 1992 and Terrance Falls, the same year of death. That's strange. . . them all dying with in three years. . . well, no Hermione, anyway.  
_ '_Just me._'  
He slipped the book back on the shelf. "You weren't in there." he informed Hermione, coming over to her. She looked up, puzzled. "But there's no other Founders. I've looked through all the books, and there aren't any mentions of me."  
"Maybe it's because your parents were Muggles." Ron volunteered, but Hermione shook her head. "No. The books said they wrote _everyone_ out. Wizard, Squib, Muggle, whatever. I think we should start looking at this in another way." she said, eyes gleaming. "Like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle said; when you eliminate the impossible, no matter how improbable, whatever is left must be the answer."  
"And this means. . .?" Ron asked, at a complete blank. Harry shrugged, but Hermione just grinned and held up three fingers.  
"Fact one. I can read the books because I'm the heir of one of the Founders." She put down one finger.  
"Fact two. I'm not the heir of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Slytherin." She put down another.  
"Conclusion:," she put down her index finger, "There was a fifth, unknown, unrecorded Founder." 

~ ~ ~

The boys, needless to say, exploded. "WHAT!"  
"YOU'RE MENTAL! YOU - ! YOU - ! YOU _MUTANT COMMIE TRAITOR_!"  
Silence.  
"_What_?"  
"It was from the 'Martin Miggs, the Mad Muggle' comics." Ron explained. "It was Martin's catchphrase."  
"Thank you for sharing that valuable bit of information, wisdom and experience." Hermione said sarcastically. "Back to the matter at hand, however, all the information fits. There's no other explanation, apart from getting the spell wrong, but that's hardly likely.  
"And this _is_?" Ron groaned, and collapsed into a chair. "Hermione, that's just. . . just plain stupid! There's no house animal, nothing on the coat of arms, no name; even if there _was _another Founder, there's no mention of him or her, anywhere."  
"Hermione's right though." Harry said uncertainly, "It does sound like the most likely explanation. I'm not accepting it completely at this moment, but there doesn't seem to be much else to go on.  
"If we could find something, that would trace my family back a thousand years, to the time of the Founders, we'd be almost certain who it was." Hermione smiled thoughtfully. "Wouldn't it be fascinating to know who it was? Or why they left, and there's no house with them?"  
"Maybe they died while the school was being built?" Ron suggested, balancing his quill behind his ear. "Or maybe there was a bigger argument than with Slytherin, and they got rid of the entire house?"  
"No, they would have kept the house, even if the Founder left." Hermione sighed, and closed the book. "Perhaps we'll never solve it."  
"Oh, come on, Herm'." Ron chided, the quill falling off his ear, and dropping on the floor. "When have you ever just given up before? We'll solve the mystery, easy. There must be _some_ kind of spell or potion to show your family."  
"I was hoping you'd say that." Hermione smirked. "The Predecerus incantation will show me my family, going back to four hundred B.C, when the spell was invented."  
"Here we go." Ron muttered, and Harry picked up the quill from the floor. "Okay, the Pred-whatever spell. Is it Latin, or something?"  
"No, no-one knows who invented it." Hermione made clear, "A Witch found it in a store in some old bookshop in France. There's the dates the spells were invented, in normal numbers, but no-one knows what the spell's called, or what language it's in. The Witch just tested it, found out what it did, and called it the Predecerus incantation. But, there's a problem."  
"And the problem would be?" Ron asked cautiously, turning his head slightly.  
"The problem would be, that I only found the book while looking for the Polyjuice Potion recipe. It's in the restricted section."  
"It's Dark magic?"  
"Of course not!" Hermione denied, "It's just that there's Dark spells in it. And we could hardly ask a teacher for a Dark book, even if we told them we were just using a normal spell."  
"So, our mission, should we choose to accept." Harry concluded, "Get into the restricted section - that shouldn't be too hard - find the right book - which, unless you've memorised how it looked, _is_ going to be hard, and get it out. Then, we get it out, and cast the spell."  
"Uh. . . yeah, But there's a few _more_ problems." Hermione added sheepishly. Ron groaned. "What?"  
"For a start, no-one's ever been able to translate a single letter of the book. Secondly, I can't remember what the book looked like, or what page the spell's on. What I remember of it, however, is that it's really long and hard to remember."  
"This just gets better and better." Ron said, giving up. "Okay. Tomorrow night, we'll sneak down and have a look. Right now, I've got to go somewhere, or I'll be late. Goodnight." He leapt up and gathered his things, hastily shoving them into his bag and practically running out of the room.  
"Wait!" Harry called suddenly, and Ron stopped. "What?"  
"I wanted to ask whether either of you have been in my trunk. All the Fortune Finder predictions have been written out, and someone put some Floo Powder in there. I know neither of you put the Powder in," he corrected himself, "but I didn't know whether you copied out the predictions."  
Ron looked at him slowly. "You have Floo Powder?" Harry nodded. "Yeah, so?"  
"Never mind." Ron shifted his bag. "Anyway, I didn't copy the predictions out, or leave anything in there. See you in the morning." He fled the room.  
"What's up with him?" Harry asked, puzzled, turning back to Hermione. She had a strange look on her face.  
Harry waved a hand in front of her face, slowly. "Hermione? Hermione Granger? _Hellooo_?" Hermione snapped out of her daze. "Oh, right. Sorry. I was just thinking about something. Harry, can you put these books away? I need to go."  
She grabbed her backs, and exited as fast as Ron.  
Harry stared after them, completely and utterly confused. "What in God's name is wrong with those two?" 

~ ~ ~

When Harry had shoved the books back in the Founders section, he checked his watch. It was eight thirty-five - twenty-five minutes until the curfew.  
He spent the next ten minutes reading the start of Gryffindor' biography, and then headed back to the Gryffindor dorms, making sure to hide his mark from passers-by in the corridors.  
When he finally reached the common room, Hermione was writing her book, and Ron was no-where in sight.  
Harry reached is room, and it seemed that Ron was, in fact, having an early night. Harry changed for bed, and had just got in, when Ron spoke. "Did you send Hermione up here?"  
"No." yawned Harry, watching Sterling out the corner of his eye. "Why?"  
"She came up here. A couple of minutes before you did. Talked about the Predecerus incantation and how to find it. I thought maybe you sent her."  
"No, she left the library a moment after you did." Harry informed him, and turned over, closing his eyes. "Night."  
"Night." 

~ ~ ~

Something was tapping against his face, slowly. "Stop it, Ron." Harry groaned, shifting in his half-sleep. "I'll be up in a minute." The tapping continued, faster. It suddenly stopped, and then a sudden, hard, rap on his forehead finally woke him.  
"Ow! Okay, I'm up!" Harry yelped, sitting up. He rubbed his eyes, and grabbed his glasses from the bedside table, where his wand also lay.  
Blinking, he looked round at the tower. It was dark, much too dark for morning. Dean, Neville and Seamus were asleep, still in their beds if the shapes under the covers proved everything, but Ron was gone.  
Looking for the one that woke him, Harry glanced elsewhere than the beds, and by the side of his own.  
He glared at the black bird, barely noticeable, but for it's beak and jewel, in the gloom of the night. "What are you doing? I was asleep." he asked it, stifling a yawn, and sitting up straighter. Sterling gave a small caw and dropped something into Harry' lap. The boy took his wand from the table, now, and held it to the object. "Lumos."  
It was the Vocare Room invitation.  
"Sterling, I'm not going." Harry sighed, not even bothering to wonder how she had managed to get inside his chest. "I'm just going to get some sleep. I've got Astronomy at midnight."  
The bird seemed angry at this. She fluttered her wings impatiently, and took wing, landing on Harry's trunk of belongings.  
Harry glanced at his watch. It was nine thirty-eight. "I don't care how much you want me to go, I'm. Not. Going. Got it?"  
The bird gave another violent caw, and clawed at the trunk. "Fine. I'll go downstairs to the fire, but I'm not going through. Is that okay with you?" This time, the caw was in the affirmative.  
Getting up, Harry changed quickly into a set of black robes, and, Sterling landing on his shoulder, slipped downstairs, the invitation and his wand in his pocket.

~ ~ ~

Harry reached the bottom of the stairs, and stopped as he heard two people talking in hushed whispers by the fire, which was, strangely enough, burning at this time of night. Hiding behind a chair, he recognised the voices as Hermione and Ron, unsurprisingly, arguing.  
"I'll ask again, and this time don't avoid the question. What. Are. You. Doing. Here?" Hermione hissed angrily, her voice spitting venom.  
"That's none of your business. What are _you _doing here?"  
"_I'm_ not telling _you_, until _you_ tell _me_."  
"Well, I won't be telling you, so you'll a long wait. Go to bed."  
"_You_ go to bed!"  
"No way! I have something important to do, so get lost."  
"Fighting again?" Harry asked, coming out from his hiding place. Ron and Hermione stopped their bickering immediately, and stared at the boy. "Harry?" Hermione asked, "When did you get down here?"  
"At the 'I'll ask again' part." Harry replied, coming closer. "What are you two doing down?"  
"What are _you_ doing down?" retorted Ron, and Hermione rolled her eyes. "Let's not get into another argument like the last one." she sighed. "Let's just all tell each other the truth about why we're down here."  
"Okay," Harry said, and Ron nodded.  
Then, all at the same time, they said "I got this strange letter - " 

~ ~ ~

They stopped. "We all got a letter?" Harry asked, and reached into his pocket, taking out the invitation. At the same time, Hermione took hers from her robes pocket, and Ron from his.

_ Dear Mr Potter,  
You are cordially invited to the Society of the Vocarine, to receive your Gift.  
Please come to 'Vocare Room' via Floo powder at ten o'clock, Tuesday the thirteenth of September, night.  
Yours sincerely,  
The owner of the Vocare Room.  
_  
Harry read aloud for the other two's benefit. Ron's face turned to shock, and he read his.

_ Dear Mr Weasley,  
You are cordially invited to the Society of the Elements, to receive your Gift.  
Please come to 'Incendium Hall' via Floo powder at ten o'clock, Tuesday the thirteenth of September, night.  
Yours sincerely,  
The owner of the Incendium Hall.  
  
_The pair watched Hermione as she read her letter.

_ Dear Miss Granger,  
You are cordially invited to the Society of the Sight, to receive your Gift.  
Please come to 'Imminent Division' via Floo powder at ten o'clock, Tuesday the thirteenth of September, night.  
Yours sincerely,  
The owner of the Imminent Division._

"Well, I think we've learnt our lessons." Harry sighed. Hermione looked confused, so Harry explained. "It makes things a lot easier if you tell your friends when you receive really weird messages."  
"Well, that's all well and good, but what are they?" Hermione questioned wearily, and Ron grinned. "The only way to find out, is to go."  
Harry held up his hands. "Hey, slow down with the ideas. I'm not going, and I don't think you should, either. It could be a trap."  
Ron waved his hand, "Don't be daft. Why would You-Know-Who send us these? He'd just kill us or kidnap us, not send an invitation. And besides, if you aren't going, why did you come down, hm?"  
"Sterling forced me to." Harry explained, pointing to the bird that sat quietly on his shoulder, somehow managing to wear a smug expression.  
"Aha! So Sterling wants you to go!" crowed Ron, "And that bird is meant to look after you! It was sent to you. . . by. . . someone. . ." He slowed to a halt.  
"Ron?" Hermione said, worried, and Ron shook his head clear. "Harry, I don't know how we didn't see it before. It was so obvious! Someone sent her to protect you, and she's probably Gryffindor's bird-"  
"I thought we agreed that she wasn't?" Hermione said sharply, but Ron ignored her. "- and you're Gryffindor's heir! Maybe another of Gryffindor's heirs sent her to protect you!"  
"She isn't Godric Gryffindor's pet!" Hermione shrieked, slamming her Sight invitation on the armchair.*****  
"Be quiet!" Ron hissed, "It was just an idea. Look, guys. Are we going to try and find out what these places are, or not? I mean, I can tell you're both _extremely_ interested in this, really."  
Hermione groaned. "I know, but I've never heard of anyone getting these types of invitations before. We don't know what to expect, or where we'll be going. I know for a fact that you're the only people _I've_ told."  
"Okay, then." Ron announced. "You two can stay here. But I'm going, got it? I got the Floo Powder," he looked a little guilty here, "from Harry's trunk, as soon as I heard he had some. Personally, if Sterling's trying to get Harry to come here, then I trust her. She's meant to be keeping him safe, not helping trick him."  
Digging his hands deeper into his pocket, he brought up some twisted paper. Untwisting it, he revealed sparkling powder.  
"Ron. . ." Hermione warned, but he ignored her. "You can follow after me, if you want to." he informed them, and threw the Floo Powder onto the fire. It turned an emerald green and rose higher. Before either of the others could stop him, he stepped in, and said, "Incendium Hall!"  
"Ron!" Hermione cried, but it was too late.  
Ron had already gone. 

~ ~ ~

"Ron!" Hermione cried, but it was too late.  
Ron had already gone.  
"Damn!" swore Harry, as the green flames turned back to normal now that their user had been transported.  
"Should we go after him?" Hermione asked, her face ashen white.  
"No."  
"Yes."  
"What do you mean, yes and no?" Hermione asked, tears in her eyes. "He could be hurt, or-"  
"I didn't say no, I said yes." Harry defended himself. "I don't know who said - wait a minute. . ." he said, as another thought hit him head on. He took from his pocket the three predictions, and found Ron's one.  
_Thoughtlessness, rashness. . .  
New adventures, new beginnings - unlimited possibilities. . .  
_"Well, those seem to be fitting in right now." Harry muttered, and pocketed them again. "I don't know who said 'no', but it wasn't me. We'd better-"  
"No." a woman's voice said.  
"Hermione? What do you mean?"  
"Harry, I didn't say that."  
"But there's no-one else here; well, except for. . ."  
The pair of them slowly turned their heads to look at the determined bird.  
Hermione blinked. "You've got to be kidding me. Okay then, why no?"  
Sterling cocked her head to the side. "He has gone to where he is meant to go. If you wish to go anywhere, then you should go to your rightful destinations."  
"This is nuts." Harry cradled his head in his hands. "I've got a talking bird, possibly belonging to Godric Gryffindor, which is telling me that I shouldn't look for my missing friend, but should go to a location I've never seen or heard of before, with no-one else, with no-one knowing I've gone at all. Is that about it?"  
"Not exactly." the bird replied. "It's not a possibility, I _do_ belong to Godric."  
"Someone get me out of this dream." muttered Hermione.  
"It's nearly ten o'clock. You'll be late for your respective appointments."  
"Wait, wait!" Hermione picked up her invitation. "You mean this, I suppose. Look, who are you, anyway, or what? Where are these places? Why should we go?"  
"You'll find out." the raven said mysteriously. "I promise you, you won't be hurt or held against your will. Everything will be explained."  
Harry looked at Hermione. "I've got this strange feeling that she's telling the truth. Do you want to try?"  
Hermione nodded shakily. "I've got enough Floo Powder for the both of us. I got it from your trunk, while Ron was in bed." Harry glared at her. "Let me guess; you distracted him by talking about the book? And that's why you acted weird in the library - you heard I had Floo Powder, which you needed?"  
Hermione nodded awkwardly.  
"So, it all fits." Harry sighed, taking the Powder that Hermione now offered him. For some reason, the slight green glow still surrounded the Floo.  
Hermione tossed her own pinch over the fire. "Imminent Division." she told it, stepping into the green flames. They rose about her, and she was gone, the flames turning back to their brilliant red.  
Throwing the Floo Powder on the fire, Harry looked at Sterling, still perched on his shoulder. "You're coming with me?" She nodded jerkily. "I'm needed to explain some things. I hope you're not tired; this is going to take a few hours."  
"But I have Astronomy at midnight," Harry told her, suddenly remembering. "I can't go to both."  
"It's all sorted. You won't be missing anything."  
"A Time-Turner?" he asked, turning back to the fire. Sterling gave a small laugh. "No. It's just a quite simple spell. You won't have to learn anything from Astronomy when you get back, and no-one will have noticed you missing. You'll understand soon enough."  
"I hope so." Harry muttered. "I have a really bad feeling that things are about to get a lot more confusing."  
"You'd be right." Sterling informed him. "The Floo fire only takes one person, so I'll be waiting there for you." With that, she rose into the air, and faded from sight.  
Feeling that nothing could surprise him anymore, Harry went into the flames. "Vocare Room." he surrendered, and vanished from Hogwarts, England, Britain, and the very plane of existence.

~ ~ ~

Travelling by Floo was always the same. The rushing, whirling feeling, the dizziness, the appearance of other grates and fires whizzing past.  
So, it came as great surprise to Harry, when none of this happened. There was no sight of fires or rooms ahead. Instead, there was a blurry vision of blacks and greys melding and melting together and apart, and, in the place of the dizziness, a smooth sensation of. . . something. It wasn't a feeling of going up, or down, forwards or back, left or right, but more like he was moving _within_.  
It took a few seconds - maybe ten or twelve - to arrive at the destination. The blacks and greys faded into a brilliant white, and the sensation stopped. Harry instinctively checked his surroundings. He wasn't standing in a fireplace any more; instead, he was in the centre of a gold edged circle, raised about half a foot in the air. Within it's gold edge, it was pure white, and seemed to be made of some kind of unidentifiable material.  
The circle was in one of the corners of large, square room; all the walls, the ceiling and the floor were in the same dazzling white, and in each corner - and in the centre of the room - there was more of the raised circles. There was no-one else around, but set in the far wall was a white, handle-less door. The only reason Harry could see it was that it had a gold outline.  
Stepping off the low platform, Harry made his way to the door, thoughts of where he was - and where Sterling was - running through his head. It seemed that the circles were some kind of transportation system, since he had come to them from the fire.  
Harry stopped at the door, unsure of how to open it without the handle. At first, he pushed it, but it didn't swivel open. Trying again, he pulled it sideways, but it didn't work.  
"Just damn open!" he hissed angrily, and it did, moving like a sliding door into the wall. Harry stared. "Oh."  
Beyond the door, more white met his eyes, though it wasn't as bright as in the room. It was a long corridor, and along it, at regular intervals, ran gold outlined doors; handle-less, like the one he had just opened. Set in them, however, were small gold plaques with writing.  
Harry stepped out into the hallway, uncertain of what to do. Glancing at one of the plaques, he read the inscription;

**S.V: Master's Room - G.G**

was written on the gold in a deep scarlet. "Great." Harry muttered, standing back again. "That really helps to explain where I am." He took his wand from his pocket and held it ready, in case it did turn out to be a trap.  
Turning back to the white room, whose door had now closed silently, Harry saw that it had a gold plaque on this side.

**S.V: Transportation Room**

it read, it the same scarlet font. Unsurprisingly, this too did nothing to help Harry work out where he was. So, starting to feel nervous, he chose a direction and headed left down the corridor, wand by his side.

~ ~ ~

Harry had only been walking for two minutes or so, hearing nothing and passing no-one and nothing but rows upon rows of white doors, the occasional twist or turn of the corridor, white tiled floors, smooth, white-washed walls, and the strange, ever-present light - even though there were no windows, and no visible light sources - when the sound of running feet caught his attention. It sounded faint at first, and the got louder as it moved closer, a steady 'thud:thud:thud.' of shoes.  
It was coming, Harry worked out, from in front of him.  
He had a brief, internal struggle over running in the opposite direction, or waiting for whoever it was, and decided to wait. He had his wand, and if it was a friend, or someone who would help him, then it wouldn't improve his condition by hiding, running or attacking them.  
Holding his ground, his wand arm ready by his side, he waited as the steps came louder and closer, and the person became visible, a few metres away, coming out of a hallway leading off the main corridor.  
It was a woman, somewhere in her mid-twenties by the look of her, but quite tall. Her brown-black hair was tied in a short ponytail at the back of her head, and her eyes; her eyes were definitely unusual. They were slightly slanted upwards, and the iris was coal-black like her pupils; but with shining silver streaks running out from the pupils. Her ears were strangely pointed at the top, which made Harry recognise her instantly as an Elf, such as from the history books.  
She was dressed in a pair of black jeans, and a dark green top, which suited her and each other perfectly  
The Elf looked Harry over, as if judging him. "Are you Harry Potter?" she asked, stopping in front of him. Harry gave a small nod in his confusion. '_Well, at least they know my name, even if I don't know theirs_. . .'   
The Elf rolled her eyes, as if thanking someone. "Finally! There was such a panic when you didn't turn up at the usual T.R; and then Godric let slip he wanted you to come in style - I suppose he thought you knew where to go, which you didn't, so he set you up for the Masters' and V.I.P's T.R. . . I'll have to have a word with him about that. Had us all on a wild goose chase, running round the S.O.V department, when you should have been in the V.R - "  
"Excuse me?" Harry butted in, giving up trying to understand what she was babbling on about. "What are you talking about?"  
The woman slapped her head. "Great! I suppose Godric didn't even tell Rose to explain that. Perfect. Look, your Guide will explain everything, but I have to get back to work. My own department's in a mess; oh-eight-one-four's going haywire."  
She noticed Harry's blank stare. "Sorry, I don't usually babble like that. My nerve's are all worked up. This is the first time we've lost a student, and we've been here a long time. Okay, just keep going down this corridor, go down the way I came from, and you should see a gold door. Just go through, Godric should be there by now. Good luck; and I'll probably be seeing you again soon." she said, and reached out her hand to shake Harry's. As he took it, he noticed the mark on her hand; a silver wolf, head up and howling.  
She let his hand go, and with a pop, she Disapparated away.  
Harry paused for a moment. She didn't seem to want to hurt him; and she didn't seem as though she would be in league with Voldemort. . . giving up, he headed down the corridor, following her directions.  
By the time Harry found the golden door, down the end of the corridor, he was thoroughly bored. It seemed the only thing that he'd actually accomplish would be getting more confused (if it was even possible) and walking over - wherever he was.  
Just where _was_ Sterling, anyway?  
Giving a sigh, he looked at the golden door. It had been easy to find - all the others were white with a gold outline. This one, however, had a handle, unlike the others; a gold one. It was, in fact, the main part of the gold on the door. The only other gold was the outline of the door, and the sunken plaque, which read (in scarlet lettering), 

**S.V: Apprentice Room**

Putting his wand away, Harry pushed the door open.

~ ~ ~

The inside of the 'Apprentice Room' was a pleasant change to the white, red and gold of the outside. It was a mixture of creams and blues, tastefully arranged. Smooth blue paint lay on the plain walls. The floor was cream carpet, and the ceiling was of cream as well; although it seemed only to be a front, like a coloured glass case.  
Like the Great Hall at Hogwarts, the night sky was visible beyond - but not like Harry had seen through a telescope, or with his own eyes.  
Instead, the 'night sky' was more like the far universe. A spinning, red and purple nebula was surrounded by a cluster of orange stars, just pinpricks in the distance. Swirls of cloudlike colours of pink, grey and purple rested in the black, and a planet or moon in the void drifted slowly by.  
Harry finally tugged his gaze away, and at the rest of the room. A pair of soft blue couches, which could seat about ten people altogether, each with three cream cushions, sat in the centre of the room facing each other. They seemed to be the only furniture, and yet the light was still there, even with the lack of candles and bulbs.  
On the couch facing away from Harry, a pair of women sat, not noticing Harry's arrival. One had long brown hair, and the other had short, black hair. Harry couldn't see much else about them.  
On the other couch, a man who looked about in his late thirties sat. He had short brown hair, surprisingly messy, like Harry's. He was of slightly above average height and build, and was dressed in a robe - white, trimmed with gold - with a red cloak, which made Harry guess he'd found the decorator of the long corridors. The man had brown eyes, which were right now, gazing at Harry with amusement, and on his shoulder sat a black raven with a silver beak.  
"Sterling?" Harry asked, confused, and the bird gave a small caw. At Harry's word, the two woman turned in their seats to look at him.  
The brunette had a slim, small face, and blue eyes. She had fair skin, and was completely normal looking; perhaps twenty or twenty-one years old.  
The black-haired woman had cold black eyes, and dark skin; she too was normal looking, but Harry felt a strange air of familiarity around her. She looked around the same age as the other woman, but Harry felt as though she was a lot older than she looked.  
The brunette smiled at him. "Harry! You're finally here!"  
The boy just felt more confused now. "Where?"  
The man waved a hand, on which Harry saw the same mark that he himself had. "Harry, you must be pretty confused. Please, sit down, and we'll explain everything as best we can."  
'_That would be nice_.' Harry thought, walking warily closer and sitting next to the blonde woman, glancing at Sterling.  
"First of all," the man told him, "I have to apologise for setting you up in the Master's Transportation Room; I hadn't seen you in a while, so I got a bit carried away. . . I thought Rose would explain everything, and tell you where to go."  
"I can't exactly do that, when I don't Apparate into the same room as him." the black-haired woman, apparently Rose, said coolly. Her voice was familiar as well, although Harry couldn't place her exactly.  
"Well, yes, but that's all in the past now. Who found you, exactly?" the man asked thoughtfully.  
Realising the question was directed at him, Harry answered as best he could. "A woman - I think she was an Elf. She had a ponytail and silver-streaked eyes." Harry said helplessly, remembering that she hadn't said her name. "She was saying that her department was in a mess. . ."  
The man nodded. "That must have been Regina Jones. The Society of Aid's in a bit of a muddle with one of the Planes, and she's the Master of that section. One of the best Watchers, actually; I'll be sure to thank her.  
"Anyway, perhaps I should explain where you are, first. Then your Guide will show you the details. First of all, I should explain the Planes." The man paused; then asked, "Have you heard of the theory of alternate Planes of existence? Different dimensions?"  
Harry shook his head. "No." The man sighed. "That'll make things a bit harder then. Short version; the reality you live in, which your universe is based in, is just the reality that you perceive. It's one of many. Got that?"  
Harry nodded.  
"Good. Basically, there are an infinite number of other. . . dimensions, realities, universes, whatever you want to call them. Their technical names are Planes. These Planes can be slightly different from each other, or totally. For example, in your Plane, you were born on the thirty-first of July. In another, you were born on the thirtieth. In another, you weren't born at all, because Humans never existed; there were some other kinds of creatures.  
"Now and then, some idiot with an ego problem decides that they want some kind of control over one or more of these planes, or wants to change the set future somehow. They might want to cross from one Plane to another. With an infinite number of Planes, this problem popped up more often then you'd think." he explained, and sat a little straighter. "Because of this, about ten million years ago, things were starting to go wrong. Really wrong. Absolute chaos. So, a race called the Liann, who had the power to cross Planes - and actually exist in all of them at the same time - decided to set up an organisation to stop these people, creatures, whatever.  
"They called it DEUS. In their language, it meant 'Guardians'. Now, occasionally, people would be born with with powers. The interesting thing about them, was that only their Planes' version of them had the power; in other Planes, the alternate version of themselves would never have it. Anyway, these people had all kind of powers; they could be Elementals, Shapeshifters, Necro-abled, Telepaths; all kinds.  
"These people all had two things in common, however. First was that they'd only start gaining their powers after they had reached their version of a fifteen year old Human."  
"I thought there were other types of creatures?" Harry interrupted. The man nodded. "I meant in mental age, in Human time. Of course, some people lived longer or shorter than Humans. So, when they reached their own version of a certain age - which, in Human age would be fifteen - they would start to become stronger. Faster at learning things, more powerful; that sort of thing. Understanding everything so far?"  
Harry agreed, the women looking bored.  
"The second thing in common, was that everyone in every Plane had a perfect form to become an Animagus, whether they were or not, even Muggles. When the unique people reached their fifteenth birthday, and started gaining their powers, if they found their perfect form somehow; if they met it, or it came to them, they dreamt it - anything like that - then a mark of their perfect form would appear on their palm, or, if they didn't have a palm, somewhere on their bodies.  
"The Liann recruited those with powers into DEUS, to help. Since there were so many different types of powers, sections were made, called Societies. For example, there's the Society of Aid, which Regina works in. In that section, they have Watchers; they're some of the ones who can feel how history is meant to progress, so that everyone can work to make sure that it happens that way.  
"Each Society has a Master and an apprentice room. The Master is the leader of the Society; the best member. A new one's only chosen when the old one dies or wants to leave. The recruiting room is after people get their invitation to join. On an assigned date, once a year, the person comes to the apprentice room - for your Society, it's the Vocare Room - via their usual method of transportation. It might be Apparating, Teleporting, Floo Powder, the Möbius Continuum; any way.  
"In the apprentice room, the person gets their Guide, which is someone who shows them around, answers questions; that sort of thing. I think that's about it." he finished, sitting back in the couch with a smile. "Rain; she's the brunette; is your Guide. Any more quick questions?"  
"Yeah," Harry said, trying to swallow all the information that had just been thrown at him, and trying to sort it out in his head. "Who are you, and why was Sterling there? What do you want with me, and why did you say before that it had been a long time since you saw me? Is DEUS basically like the Order of the Phoenix, or Purity? Where are my friends?"  
"One at a time!" the man said hastily, before Harry could ask anymore, holding up his hand, which gave Harry another good view of the mark. "What we want with you is quite simple. You're one of the people I was talking about; those with power. About your friends, they too, both have power. Haven't you or they noticed their powers increasing over the past weeks or so since your birthdays?  
"Sterling; that's tricky to answer. You see, Sterling is nothing more than a Aldor Raven. A magical bird, more intelligent than most. Probably about the same intelligence as a Phoenix. However, I knew that if you still weren't fifteen and hadn't gained your powers, as well as the fact that your house was attacked, then you were in a lot of danger.  
"So, I took a small jewel, and inserted it into Sterling's forehead with magic. I come from the same Plane as you, and was a wizard there before I knew of my powers, so it was easy. I then used the jewel as a focus, to concentrate my Summoning on.  
"My power, you see, is Summoning. The ability to call things, whether it's a bolt of lightning, or a creature to serve you.  
"What I did is Summon a creature that had the ability to merge with something, and become part of it. Because I had Summoned it, the creature obeyed me, and I told it to merge with the jewel. Because the jewel was now a part of Sterling, the creature could control her. I sent her to you, with orders to protect you; of course, I knew you wouldn't just take in an unknown creature sent from nobody, so I sent a note, written in the handwriting of someone you trust."  
"Dumbledore?" Harry asked in surprise, and the man nodded.  
"Dumbledore. I knew you'd accept a guardian from him, so I made it look as though he'd sent her to you. Rose; the name of the creature I'd Summoned, protected you, not only from physical danger, but also from your nightmares. Voldemort had cast a spell which allowed your ghost-form - the form you become when you fell asleep, and could see Voldemort - to be able to be seen, and hurt.  
"Because of this danger to you, Rose stopped your dreams as soon as she saw you were being hurt by them. I suppose you realised that your dreams ceased after you got her?"  
Harry stared. "Yeah, but I thought it was just. . ."  
"Just a coincidence? No, it wasn't.  
"After protecting you, Rose's job was to make sure you got to the Society of the Vocarine. Obviously, you'd be a lot more careful than most people, what with your past, so someone you trusted had to lead you there.  
"The Order of the Phoenix and the Order of Purity are both part of DEUS. The leaders of DEUS, the most powerful of us all, are called The Five, and one of these is a man called Erowin. About eight hundred years ago, Dark Wizards held a lot of power, so he created an organisation to stop them, called the Order of Purity.  
"Eventually, so many people were joining, he made a sub-section called the Order of the Phoenix, comprising the ten most powerful Wizards and Witches in the Order of the Phoenix. These ten get their orders from DEUS, although they don't know it."  
The man waited for Harry's approval to go on. "The reason I said I saw you before, is because I have. I saw you about fourteen years ago, when your father brought you here, one day."  
Harry sat up straighter, and looked at the man in shock. "My father? Why was he here?"  
"Because he too, had a power. It usually runs in families; something genetic. In fact, the power has been in your family for the past five hundred and two generations, starting from me.  
"Godric Gryffindor."  
  
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Well, not much plot this chapter, but I needed to put in a lot of introductions and information. My hand aches now, so I hope you're glad.  
E-mail ryshora@hotmail.com, for comments, queries, or to ask me to give the short version of everything.  
No-one's even asked about the glow that was surrounding the ring last chapter. *Sigh*.  
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	10. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I own the plot, I own all the characters that aren't mentioned in the books, so on, and so on. I don't own anything you recognise from the books or film. Oh, and I don't own Zshar-ptitsa. That's a mythological creature from Russian folklore, which is like a Phoenix.  
I don't own Regina, either. ^_~  
This chapter's quote is extremely fitting with the last chapter and this one...  
A big, **_big_** thank you to The Red Dragons Order, who gave me a beautiful drawing for a cover! ^_^ It's gorgeous, and you WOULD be able to see it at www.ryshora.fateback.com, but it was too big to be uploaded. Please, e-mail me for it!  
**Warning!** This chapter's _extremely _boring, but it explains nearly everything here, so you should read it. A lot of the characters in this chapter will be major characters, so I had to fit them in! The story will pick up again soon, never fear...  
  
**New Spell Guide:**  
Mutare Elementa - Change Element  
Predecerus - A take on predecessor  
Transfero Memoria - Transfer Memory  
Destructo Incantatum - Destroy Enchantment 

**Chapter 9:  
Of Gryffindor and Guides.**

Any situation worth understanding is confusing.  
~ Anon

  
"In fact, the power has been in your family for the past five hundred and two generations, starting from me.  
"Godric Gryffindor."

~ ~ ~

It was not surprising that Harry then did his best fish impression, by staring open-mouthed at the supposedly dead, world-famous man who also happened to be his five-hundred greats grandfather.  
It was also not surprising that Godric found this entirely amusing.  
"Is something wrong?"  
Harry spluttered incomprehensibly for a few moments, before finally managing; "Aren't you _dead_?"  
Godric pinched his hand. "No, I definitely felt that. I think I'm alive. So sorry, I do apologise."  
Harry dragged his jaw up. "But aren't you meant to have. . . well, died, nearly a thousand years ago?" Godric Gryffindor nodded cheerfully.  
"That's right. I mean, I didn't _die_, but I could hardly stay there forever. It would look a little suspicious. So, when I decided I was ready, I faked my death and spent the rest of my life working with DEUS; which I'd been with since I was fifteen."  
"You mean," Harry gulped, "people in DEUS are _immortal_?"  
This time, it was Rain's turn to answer. "Not quite. Normal members age normally and die at the usual age for their species. However, Masters and The Five are seen as having too much experience and wisdom to lose. A de-aging spell or potion takes care of it, until they retire or die on a mission."  
"I was already the Master of the Vocarine Society ages before I 'died'." Godric further explained. "Although with the de-aging spell, I didn't grow any older, I cast an illusion to make it look as though I was. Soon I had outlived the other Founders of Hogwarts, so I 'died', and continued working at DEUS."  
"I joined a few years ago," Rain explained, "I'm just a normal member; a Water Elemental. Rose, sitting next to me, is the Summoned creature who inhabited Sterling's jewel. She'll be returning soon to her true form, and back to her own Plane."  
Harry looked at the black-haired woman. "So that's where I know you from? I thought you were familiar."  
The woman shrugged her shoulders. "I'm surprised you recognised me. The last few days I had to come back here so Godric could make a Human body for me. It's a lot more suitable than a birds'."  
'_So that's why she was missing._' Harry mused, and voiced another question. "So what's my power, and my friends'?"  
"You have the same power that's been passed down our family for generations." smiled Godric. " The Summoning power, which means you'll be in the same section that I lead.  
"Your friends - Ron and Hermione, I believe? - are in different sections. Mr Weasley is a Fire Elemental, and and Miss Granger is a Seer. A Near-Future Seer to be exact; there are many types."  
"They don't get their powers from genetics though." Rain added. "In many planes, being the seventh son of a seventh son, or the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter automatically gives you Elemental powers, and the type you get tend to match your personality.  
"Seeing, however, is a random talent. It's quite rare, and it could come to anyone. There is a pattern to it, however; the ones who have the Sight are usually people who are nearly always around someone Gifted. Since she was friends with _two_ Gifted, it's only natural that she developed a Gift of her own."  
"A bigger version of 'setting an example and bringing out the best in others'?" Harry asked in amusement, feeling something wrong with what Rain had said, and the woman gave a small laugh. "Exactly. The Society of the Sight, which deals with Seers, is split into different sections. There's the Past Division, which is for those who can See far back and the Preceding Division, for those who See things that didn't happen very long ago.  
"Then there's the Present Division, which is obvious; the Imminent Division, for those who can See into the soon-to-come future, and the Distant Division which handles those who See far into the future. Your friend is in the Imminent Division."  
"There's something I don't understand," Harry frowned, realising what felt wrong. "My friend Ron. You said that seventh sons of seventh sons get Elemental powers. But Ron's the sixth son, not seventh. He shouldn't have any powers."  
Rain shook her head certainly. "No, he definitely is the seventh son, otherwise he wouldn't have the powers. Perhaps there's a brother you don't know about?"  
"Maybe." Harry answered doubtfully, and Godric spoke next. "Well, I have some important business to attend you, and so does Rose. Harry, however, will be shown around by Rain. You need to know where to go, and get a feel for the place. I'll see you around, hm?"  
With a pop, he Disapparated out of the room. Rose got up, and stalked to the door, muttering something about show-offs and laziness.  
Rain rolled her eyes. "Looks like they've decided to let me handle everything. Okay, this is the first time I've been a Guide, so cut me some slack. First, are there any other things you want to know about how DEUS is run, before you go on the grand tour?"  
Harry nodded. "Who are The Five?"  
"The Five," Rain explained, "are the five most powerful of all DEUS, and lead it. Only the Masters answer directly to them. The Five, at this time, are Merlin and Erowin - who are actually from your Plane - Isis, Zshar-ptitsa, and Talla. But you won't see them for another three years."  
"Why not?"  
Rain was quiet for a moment. "Basically, when you join DEUS for your first year of training, you're known as a Student or Apprentice. In your second year of training, you're called a Sorcerer or Sorceress.  
"When you've finished that, you have a big ceremony called an Initiation, along with everyone who's finished training, where you see the Five. After your Initiation, you're a full-fledged member, and your title is Mage. The only things higher than a Mage is a Master, or one of The Five. Any more questions?"  
"Yeah. Where are we? The building, I mean."  
"Glad you asked." said Rain proudly. "The DEUS Headquarters in based in Plane with no other life forms - apart from DEUS members. We're currently on the fifty-third floor of the DEUS mansion, in one of the Planes. The plane we're in right now is populated only by DEUS members; there's about twenty thousand living here. In total, there're around eighty-thousand members scattered around Planes."  
"There are eighty-thousand?"  
"Probably a bit more, now." Rain explained. "We get an extra hundred or so Apprentices each year. Ready for the tour?"  
Harry stood up. "Yeah. What are you going to show me?" 

~ ~ ~

As it turned out, a lot of things. First, Harry was shown around the Society of the Vocarine, and taught the different meaning of the signs on the doors.  
"S.V," Rain told him, "stands for Society of the Vocarine. Each Society has a different letter for their final word; like Sight or Incendium; so if you get lost, just look at one of the plaques, and you'll know which section you're in."  
The Society corridors had quarters for the Mages, training areas, research areas, transport areas and entertainment areas - something that Harry was quite astounded at. Instead of just having Muggle or Magical games, they also had some kinds of _things _that Harry had never seen or heard of; which must have, he decided, come from other Planes.  
It was when Rain led him to a normal sized door at the end of the main corridor, however, that Harry got _really_ interested.  
Through it, was the fifty-third floor's main hall.  
Whereas everything in the Vocarine section had been white, red and gold, the hall was decorated in light blues and creams, much like the Apprentice Room. A wide, grand staircase swept and curved down as far as Harry could see, down to a chequered black and white floor on the first storey.  
In this hall, a chandelier hung from the ceiling, made of thousands of tiny, sparkling crystals, and a group of plush seats sat in one of the corners, and against one of the walls.  
Of the other three walls, one was not there; the staircase took it up, one held the door they had just come through, and one held the stairs up to the next level.  
Harry took this in, gawping all the while, and Rain looked amused. "You get used to it after a while." she said to him, leading him up the stairs to the next floor. "Below are all the other Societies, one to each floor. The top floor is where The Five are."  
Harry looked around him as they ascended to the next hall. It looked the same as downstairs, although the chairs were in different places, and the stairs were in a another wall. "Where are Ron and Hermione?"  
"The Fire Elementals are on the twenty-second floor, and Seers on the forty-third." Rain replied. "You can use a transport room to go, or you can learn to Apparate. For now though, you'll have to use the stairs."  
Harry winced inwardly on hearing this. He wasn't even sure that he wanted to join, and she was telling him all this. He voiced his thoughts. "What happens if I don't want to join?"  
"No-one's said 'no' yet, but if you did, you'd go back and never come here again. We'd have to take your Gift away as well." she added. "Are you thinking about not joining?"  
"The thought had crossed my mind." Harry admitted, as they continued climbing. "Where are we going?"  
"To the second from top floor. I'm going to show you what Summoners can do." Rain answered, smiling at something. "You'll see when you get there, and you can make your mind up about joining then."  
With that, they reached what Harry thought to be the seventieth floor. This time, there were doors set on two of the walls, rather than just one. Rain pointed to the door that was coloured a light bronze. "That's the simulation and information room. You can find about the different spells and Summonings you can perform in there."  
The door opened, and what appeared to be a lynx trotted out, following a girl with snakes in her hair. On a closer glance, Harry realised that the snaked were not merely _in_ her hair; they _were _her hair. '_A Medusa._' he thought, watching the two chatting about something.  
They glanced curiously at him as they passed, and continued down the stairs that Rain and Harry had just come from.  
"That was Jin and Lyssa." the girl said, noticing Harry looking after them. "Jin; the cat-like one; is an Apprentice Summoner. He doesn't have a Guide, because he knows all about it - his family have been Summoners for three generations, and he used to come here. Lyssa, the Medusa is a Shapeshifter. I think Jin's acting as her guide."  
"You know them?" Harry asked curiously, and Rain shook her head. "No, but when the other Summoner Apprentices were in the Apprentice Room, I started talking to Jin. He said he was going to be showing a girl called Lyssa round."  
Harry stood by the woman's side, as they started walking again and stood in front of the door. "How come everyone speaks the same language? If there's so many Planes, you couldn't have everyone coincidently speaking English."  
Just as Harry finished speaking, the door slid open and allowed them through. Another long corridor, reaching out; this time in shades of light yellow and bronze.  
"There's a charm on the mansion. You're not speaking the same language as each other, but the neurons in your brain are sent to the right word equivalent in your language so that you can understand." Rain said. "Okay, this is the door. Just go in." she said cheerfully.  
Harry opened the door, and entered.

~ ~ ~

There were a lot more people in here, than in the desolate corridors and hallways. About ten people - Human or otherwise - were scattered round the room, some tinkering with small glowing objects on a long counter running along one of the walls, some sitting on black, high-backed chairs, staring blankly at small screens in front of each of them.  
"Just sit in one of the chairs, and your power level will be measured." Rain told Harry, as he glanced about the room. "Then you'll see on the screen the different things you can accomplish with your power at the moment."  
Harry looked back at her, puzzled. "Power level?"  
Rain rolled her eyes. "You don't know _that_? Your power level is your strength in your Gift. It's similar to your Magic power level; Magic and the Gift are two separate things. The higher your power level, the stronger you are, and the more you can accomplish with your Gift. Just sit down."  
Following her command, Harry lowered himself into the nearest chair. It was quite comfortable, though not as much as the couches in the Apprentice Room. The black - unidentifiable - material was soft, and melded to his his back instantly.  
"Now what?" he asked her, seeing that the screen in front of him wasn't showing anything.  
"Now, touch the screen. Press your hand against it."  
Harry reached out and did so. The screen flashed white faintly as he touched it, and then reverted back to an almost yellow. He took his hand away, and looked down at the screen.  
"Four hundred and sixty-two?" he said, pleased with his level. "Is that good?"  
"The average," Rain informed him, "Is three hundred and eighty. Your score is excellent. And not to forget, after training you'll be at an even higher level." She reached down to touch the screen, allowing Harry to see the green and yellow octopus marking on her hand, its eight tentacles entwining round each other.  
She tapped the screen, clearing it, and it brought up a menu, in black writing. "You can check anyone's file on this. Power level, Spirit Form - what you would call an Animagus Form - name, Plane, anything." She looked at him sternly. "However, every time you look someone up, it's recorded on the logs, so you can't misuse it."  
Harry looked through the menu. There were a range of choices; 'Files', 'Statuses', 'Research', 'Information', and 'Maps' being a few Harry managed to see, before Rain tapped again on the word 'Information'.  
The screen now changed to a list of what Harry recognised as some of the Gifts the three had mentioned before. Watchers, Seers, Fire E-m., Water E-m., Shifters, Summoners - Rain touched 'Summoners'.  
"What are you doing?" asked Harry, as the screen shifted again to a long list of words, spaced out neatly.  
"I've told you; I'm showing you what Summoners can do." Rain said, looking down the list. "These are all the known spells for Summoners. All the things you can call up, as it is."  
Harry checked her face to see if she was joking, and looked back at the screen. "There must be hundreds!"  
"These are only the ones you can perform at the power level you have right now," was the reply. "But you'll be able to learn different ones as you get more powerful. Obviously, you won't be learning _all_ of these."  
"Why not?" Harry asked, almost sorrowfully. Al these spells; these Summonings; and he wouldn't be learning them all?  
"Although your power _has_ increased, you're still going to be training hard. It's like in your school; there are millions of spells, but you only learn a few, select ones." Rain said. "You could learn some spells in your free time, of course."  
"Definitely." murmured Harry, looking down the list. "Lightning?" he said suddenly, as he caught sight of a particular one. "Is that a sort of golden lightning?"  
Rain arched an eyebrow. "Like the one in Hogsmeade? Don't look so surprised, of course we were keeping tabs on your powers. We stop once you join DEUS, of course, but we knew immediately about the lightning.  
"The answer is yes, like the golden one."  
Harry frowned. "Why did I Summon it? I didn't even know I could."  
"Emotion." shrugged Rain. "It's just like normal magic. In a state of heightened emotion, such as anger or shock, you can lose control." She looked at him. "So, do you want to join, or don't you want to join? You become powerful enough to deal with whatever you want on your own Plane; but in exchange, you have to help us whenever something goes seriously wrong among the Planes. Well?"  
Harry was silent, thinking about his choices. He breathed a sigh. "I don't want to make a choice until I know what Ron and Hermione are doing. Is there some way I can ask them?"  
The woman nodded. "We can check the Seer and the Fire Elemental floors. They'll probably still be down there."

~ ~ ~

After hearing how far away the two floors were, Harry was glad that Rain decided they should use that floor's transport room.  
It seemed that each floor had a decoration scheme of white and another colour, which, in the case of the Aid floor, which they were on, had green, unlike the Vocarine's gold.  
The Aid floor; of which the members were known as Watchers; was also a lot more hectic than the Vocarine's, which Rain attributed to a problem with one of the Planes.  
"One of the Watchers decided to slack off for a week, and the Plane that was under his jurisdiction got some problem with a white hole that wasn't meant to exist." she explained. "I think it was Plane oh-eight-hundred or something."  
Seeing Harry's stare, she elaborated, "All Planes have a number. The Plane I come from is six-two-eight-nine-four-four. Yours is one of the earliest; Plane oh-four-six-one."  
She stopped in front of a green outlined door, which held the plaque,

**S.A ****: Transportation Room (N)**

"The N stands for 'Normal', meaning Apprentices and Mages, rather than Masters." Rain told him, and then, looking at the door, said "Open."  
At this, the door slid to the side, and Harry realised, too late, that you only had to say the word, and it would open. Feeling a little stupid for trying to pull the door the last time, he entered.  
It was a lot less spacious than the Master's transport room, was Harry's first thought on seeing it. Instead of five of the raised circles, the room (slightly larger) fit ten or eleven of them in, although for all intents and purposes, they looked the same as the others.  
"Just stand on one and say 'Seers'." Rain ordered him. "And make sure all of you is inside the circle."  
"What happens if it isn't?"  
"Well," answered Rain, "whatever's in the circle goes to the Seers floor. Whatever's outside, doesn't. So, for example, say your hand or arm was sticking out. . ."  
Harry turned a faint green as he imagined the consequences. "So it's like splinching yourself?"  
Rain looked confused. "Never heard of it. I suppose it's just in your Plane."  
Harry shook his head. "It's when you Disapparate wrong, and you leave part of yourself behind." Harry explained. "Gryffindor did it in the room."  
"That's what it's called? I didn't know, not many people here can do it. We prefer to travel in other ways." Rain explained interestedly, stepping up onto one of the circles. "Like this, for instance. _Seers_."  
Silently, she disappeared.  
Following her example, Harry took his place on one of the raised sections. "Seers." he said loudly, and he too vanished. 

~ ~ ~

It was much the same as before; a strange sensation - although it felt more like he was gong down, rather than_ within _- and the black and greys, finally changing to the white of the Seer floor's transport room.  
This time, however, it only took three or four seconds instead of ten.  
This room had the white, and had the extra colour of a pale orange. Harry stumbled off the circle, forgetting the step, and looked across to the nearby transporter, which Rain was just getting off.  
She headed for the orange-outlined door, and told it to open, exiting as soon as it complied. Harry rushed after her to keep up, realising that he was meant to follow, entering the main corridor of the forty-third floor.  
"Why are we here?" Harry asked, running to keep up with the Elemental's long strides. "I mean, the chances of just happening to find her walking down the hall are pretty slim."  
"We're looking for a Locator." was the reply. "Those are Seers that are specialised in finding people. With the help of one of them, we should easily track down your two friends."  
It took only a few minutes to find a Locator: he was a tall, lanky man named Gyle, which made Harry guess immediately that he wasn't from Harry's Plane.  
Gyle seemed to know immediately where Hermione and Ron were; Hermione was in the DEUS library (which Harry personally felt wasn't very surprising) and Ron was on the Summoners floor, waiting in the Vocare Room for Harry to return.  
It was agreed between Harry and Rain that they should first collect Hermione, and talk as a group in the Vocare Room for Ron, which meant another trip to the Transport Room. This time to the library, which took up a whole storey - floor twenty.  
Rain waited in the Transport Room, while Harry entered the library, looking for Hermione.  
The library was, to say the least, huge. After all, when you had an infinite number of Planes for books to be written in, what other size could it be?  
Hundreds of bookcases, reaching from the floor to the ceiling, each with thirty tall, spacious shelves. There seemed to be a hundred books to a shelf, such was the quantity of them.  
Harry took in the stretched white shelves and their slightly curved edges in an instant, noting the way they trailed from one side of the room to another.  
He stopped gazing at the vast expanse, and looked around for his friend. There were few people around; Harry noticed a glimpse of movement further ahead, but whoever it was moved briskly out of sight.  
A pair of unidentifiable beings were skimming through a thick, brown leather-bound book which was cracking at the edges, and one of the few sounds was the sound of voices ahead and to the right - one of which Harry quickly identified as Hermione's.  
Harry moved as if to run to her, and caught himself as he remembered where he was. '_You're in a library!_' he chided himself silently, and walked as fast as he dared in the direction of the girl's voice. The beings glared at him as he passed, and whispered to each other in harsh, clicking tones.  
As he moved forwards, passing four of the intensely white cases, Harry twisted his head round the fifth.  
Hermione was there, chattering quietly, but excitedly, to a faintly green-skinned girl.  
Blinking in disbelief, Harry looked again. Yes, he was right the first time; the girl had snakes for her hair. She was laughing and chatting with Hermione, not looking more than sixteen years old. But then, as Harry remembered immediately, people were recruited into DEUS at fifteen, so she probably _was_ sixteen.  
Harry walked fully round the corner, exposing himself to the view of the two girls. "Hi, Herm'." he said in greeting, not sure of what else to say, and betting that 'Who's the snake-girl?' might not go down well, or leave a good first impression.  
The Medusa, for that was what Harry was certain she was, turned to look at him, and Hermione beamed happily. "Harry, have you seen all these? A collection of just under three-hundred years worth of books from the known Planes! Isn't it incredible?" she whooped, and Harry hid a smile.  
"Yeah, great." Harry started, but before he could get any further, Hermione butted in.  
"This is Lyssa by the way, she's a Medusa." Hermione stated proudly, and Lyssa rolled her eyes to her serpents, and gave a small, sarcastic wave.  
The Human girl continued her energised trilling. "Can you believe it? Me, a Seer. Me! I mean, I thought it was all just a load of rubbish, with Trelawney, you know, but me! Me! A Seer! Perha-"  
Now it was Harry's turn to interrupt. "Herm', do you think you could come to the Summoners' floor with me?" he asked, looking pointedly at her. "Ron's already up there, and I don't want to make my choice without seeing what you two are doing first."  
Hermione gave him a blank look and then looked pleased. "Oh, right. Well, I know what my choice is. I'm definitely joining."  
"How can you say that?" Harry asked, surprised. "You don't know what Ron and I'm doing yet."  
Hermione looked angry. "I _can_ make my own choices, you know."  
Harry held his hands up in surrender. "I didn't mean that. I just thought that you'd want to know what Ron and I were doing, before you made your mind up.  
"You two can go to the Summoners' floor if you want," Lyssa told them before Hermione could retort. "The tour's just about finished, anyway."  
Hermione swiftly agreed to go, calming down as Harry led her away into the transport room, where Rain waited for them.  
"Your Guide is a Medusa?" Harry asked in disbelief as they walked along. Hermione nodded. "Yes. But it's perfectly normal in her Plane. There aren't any Humans at all; the Medusas can be Wizards."  
Harry was interested now. "She's a Witch?"  
Hermione fidgeted slightly. "Not exactly. She's in a Wizarding family, but she's a Squib. That's why she's so glad to be a Shifter - it makes up for her lack of Wizarding powers, and because DEUS members have their power increased, she can even do simple spells." She paused for a moment. "Of course, her Plane's spells are different to ours."  
Harry gave a small chuckle. "You're really getting into this, aren't you?"  
"Well, she's already a Sorcerer, so she told me a lot of things." Hermione acknowledged a little sheepishly. "And you have to admit, it is fascinating."  
"That's true." Harry admitted as they reached the transport room.  
"So, what's your Guide like?" asked Hermione as Harry told the door to open.  
"A Water Elemental-" Harry started, but the door complied to the order at that moment, and he decided that it would be rude to talk about his Guide in front of her.  
They walked in. 

~ ~ ~

There was a quick greeting between Rain and Hermione, but within half a minute they were on their way to the Summoners' Floor, and two minutes after that, they were in the Vocare Room, where Ron sat waiting.  
Ron stood up the moment they entered, looking excited and nervous. "Guys! I've been waiting here for a while, 'cause, you know, I thought we should talk about the, you know, the choice, whether we shoul-"  
Hermione cut him off. "Yes, we do know. Harry hasn't made up his mind yet, but I'm joining, regardless of what you two do." She squared her jaw in determination, and glared at the two boys, as if daring them to disagree with her.  
Harry recoiled under her sharp look, and settled himself in the sofa opposite Ron, seeing that the Guides were outside the room. Hermione stopped glowering at them, and sat down next to Ron.  
"So what do you want to do?" Ron asked immediately. " Hermione's going to join, but I'm not sure."  
"What happened to the 'reckless and rash'?" Hermione teased, and then turned serious. "It does sound like it's not all fun and games. I mean, there's two years of hard training; I asked Lyssa - my Guide -" she added, seeing Ron's questioning look, "and you get trained in all sorts. Not just your power, but with weapons, unarmed combat, everything. If they call you to go on a mission, then you _have_ to go; and they're usually extremely dangerous."  
Ron looked seriously worried now, and Harry himself was doubtful. What if he was useless, or was found out by someone? Anyone at Hogwarts could discover it if he joined.  
"However," Hermione then added, "I asked about the good sides too."  
Ron and Harry leaned forwards.  
"Firstly," she began, "we can use _any_ of the facilities here, whenever we want. Library, computers, anything. Plus, we can use our Gifts outside of missions and we can come here whenever we want."  
Ron wrinkled his forehead, thinking hard. "So we could, say, use our abilities to get our O.W.Ls?"  
"There's no reason why you shouldn't." Hermione replied. "I'm joining, whatever happens. The library was incredible, and that was only the first room of it; and being a Seer is much too good an ability to just pass up." she beamed proudly.  
"So that's one yes." Harry supplied. "Ron? What do you think?"  
Ron was silent for a minute. "I dunno. . . it's a pretty big thing to just make a split-second decision on, but I think I want to join. Maybe just for a while, to see what it's like." He didn't sound as sure of himself as before, but Harry knew why he'd chosen to join.  
As a brother to five - no, six elder siblings, Ron had always been overshadowed by his brothers. Having his own special aptitude would make him feel less surpassed by them.  
"So that just leaves Harry." concluded Hermione. Ron looked expectantly at his friend, and Harry looked round slowly at the two.  
"Well. . ." he finally said, "if you two are joining, then I don't see how I couldn't. But there's some big things." he said quickly, as he noticed the identical grins spreading over Hermione and Ron's faces. "First of all, I don't have a clue how we're meant to keep this a secret. If we disappear off, every however-many-days -"  
"On Wednesdays and Saturdays at midnight." Hermione interrupted. "That's when we come here."  
"Right then," Harry continued, "if we disappear every Wednesday and Saturday, someone's bound to notice. And Dumbledore knows just about everything that goes on in the castle; even if no-one in our dorms sees us," he finished seriously, "Dumbledore will know we're going off somewhere, and he may try to stop us leaving Hogwarts."  
Ron shrugged, and gave his thoughts. "I'm pretty sure they'll have that worked out. I mean, it's not just us who have to 'disappear' from somewhere. All the other Apprentices have to as well. And if they can sort everyone out, with no problems so far, don't you believe they could do the same for us?"  
"That's it!" Harry said suddenly. "After you two left, I asked Ro- Sterling, how I was going to go to Astronomy as well. She said that I wouldn't have to catch up on lessons, and that no-one would have noticed me missing."  
"That's it, then." announced Hermione triumphantly, ignoring Ron's confused look. Neither of them had told him about Rose speaking; or even that Sterling _was_ Rose, Harry remembered.  
"So, Harry?" Hermione asked eagerly, her eyes glinting.  
Harry gave up. "Okay." he relented. "I'll join."  
Ron gave a whoop of excitement, and Hermione stood up suddenly. "Brilliant!" she squeaked, sounding very unlike her usual self. But then, Harry decided, if you'd just discovered that you and your friends are going to get new powers and join a universe spanning society, would _you _sound normal?  
Ron's eyes were shining. "This is _great_!" he crowed, pumping one fist in the air. "I'm going to trash everyone at the O.W.Ls this year -"  
"Ron, don't you think you're taking this a little lightly?" Harry asked desperately. "I mean, it's good to get new powers and all, but it's _dangerous_."  
Hermione seemed to take notice of it. She regained some of her composure, and frowned at Ron. "Harry's right, you know. We shouldn't be taking this so - so - frivolously." Ron stared at her for a second in astonishment, and then sighed. "Yeah, I know. It's just - you know, I've finally got something to be proud of, and I just want to take advantage of it."  
Hermione opened her mouth, but just as she was about to reply, a knock on the door came, and it then opened.  
Rain appeared at the open doorway. "Have you decided yet?"  
Harry took a final glance at his friends, before turning back to Rain, and answering. "We're joining." 

~ ~ ~

The four of them; Harry, Hermione, Ron and Rain entered the Transport Room, and the teenagers each chose a raised circle - what Hermione informed them was technically called a Trans-Ring - to stand on.  
"Just say 'Home'." Rain told them, watching from in front of them. "Tomorrow night, use the Floo powder to get here again. Just use the same words as last time."  
"What about people missing us?" Hermione asked anxiously, and Rain groaned.  
"I knew I'd forgotten to tell you something. Okay, when you get back, use the spell _Transfero Memoria_ on your copy." she explained hastily. "That will transfer the memories of the lessons that your copy went to, to your own memories. That way, you won't have to catch up on anything.  
"After you've finished doing that, use _Destructo _ _Incantatum_ to eliminate it."  
Hermione's faced changed to one of understanding. "You've created copies of us?"  
Rain nodded. "They act like you, but they don't really think for themselves, so don't hesitate to destroy them. They'll automatically be created when you come here, so you won't miss anything; the only way anyone can tell the difference from you and your copies, is by a blue 'D' shape on the palm, instead of your Spirit Mark." she explained immediately.  
"Useful." Hermione muttered, just loud enough for Harry and Ron to hear, and then said loudly, "Home!"  
For a second, she was bathed in a pale white light, and then without a sound, she was gone, along with the glow.  
Following her example, Ron said the same, and he too was gone a moment later.  
"Home." Harry said loudly, Rain watching him closely. Her look was different than usual; cold and brutal, but a second late it had changed back to its normal, cheerful self.  
And then that expression, too, was gone, along with the room, as a white blush rose in his vision, the feeling of _Within _following, along with the luminous glow changing itself to the blacks and greys, from his first travelling.  
These feelings and visions continued for a sixth of a minute, before Harry felt himself being spat out of the flames of the Gryffindor Common Rooms fireplace.  
He was shoved roughly out of the crackling green warmth, and into the dark, red carpet as soon as he arrived; struggling to regain his balance (and dignity). Ron grabbed one of his arms, and pulled him further upright.  
"Thanks, Ron." Harry gasped, adjusting his glasses, which had slipped nearly off his nose during the journey, even though it had been smooth.  
Hermione was seated in one of the large armchairs, eyes shut, nearly asleep, reminding Harry that they had been away for - how long? It felt like hours, and, as Harry looked at his watch to check, he saw that it had been.  
They had left at about ten o'clock, and it was now nearly half past one.  
"We missed Astronomy." Hermione yawned out, eyes still closed. "We'd better find our copies and get to bed."  
Ron snorted. "Looks like you're comfortable enough there." he muttered, and headed to the staircase. "I'll check the dormitories," he said as he left. "After Astronomy, they probably went there."  
Hermione remained silent as the minor jibe, and for a moment Harry thought she had finally succumbed to sleep. A moment later, she proved him wrong by lifting herself shakily and stumbling sleepily to the stairs. If the clones are there, Harry realised, we won't be able to go the girl's dorm, after all. Hermione will have to do it herself.  
Following the girl, he carried himself up the stairs, starting to feel the weight of his tiredness dragging him down. Now that the excitement of DEUS was over - for a while, at least - the tiredness which had been previously kept at bay, had charged in with a vengeance.  
On the fifth flight up, Harry and Hermione parted ways, heading to their respective dorms with only a muffled '_g'night_' from Hermione.  
In the boys' dorm, Ron had collapsed on his bed. Harry tapped him on the shoulder, and Ron opened an eye and looked at him. "Your copy's in your bed." Ron muttered, so the other boys wouldn't wake. "The memory spell's really tiring, though." He closed his eye again, and was silent; Harry guessed that he had fallen asleep.  
Harry paced over to his own bed, silently as possible, and stood by it. A figure could be seen under the sheets, looking exactly like himself. He paused, watching his double breathe in it's sleep, and brought out his wand.  
He pointed it at the sleeping boy- no, he couldn't think of it like that, or he'd never be able to do it - and whispered, "_Transfero Memoria_."  
The wood of the wand lit up for a second, and then dulled just as quickly as the memories of what 'Harry' had seen and done entered the real Harry's mind. Leaving Gryffindor Tower for the Astronomy lesson with Ron's copy. Learning various stages of the Moon and planets. Leaving, an hour later, back to Gryffindor Tower, joking with Ron about one of the Ravenclaws in the lesson. Tumbling into bed and falling asleep, exhausted.  
And that was the moment that Harry realised that his copy didn't _know_ he was a copy. 

~ ~ ~

He stood for a second, running through the memories that he had transferred. They were not only memories of what 'Harry' had seen, said, and done, but what he had thought and felt.  
Knowing that he couldn't kill this boy who was, in a way, himself; and yet he couldn't let him live; Harry froze, unsure of what to do, his wand still held to the copy.  
It was quiet all round the tower, broken only by a sudden whispering behind him. A second later, the copy's eyes snapped open in shock.  
Another second later, the copy was gone.  
Harry swung round, not knowing what he expected to see. Ron lowered his wand. "Sorry mate." he apologised. "I had a hard time doing it myself."  
Harry looked back at the now empty bed. "You killed him?"  
"He wasn't really alive." Ron argued. "He just thought he was."  
Harry glared at him, and opened his mouth to speak. "No." Ron said first. "You wouldn't have done it. You couldn't have. And then where would we be? No way to explain why you had a copy, or where you'd been; _he_ might have killed _you_. Don't argue."  
As Harry thought about this, he realised that Ron was right. He wouldn't have been able to do it, and having his copy around would hardly be easy to explain away.  
"Yeah. You're right." he sighed, and Ron nodded. "Go to bed." Ron replied, and swung himself back under the covers.  
Harry remained where he was for a moment longer, and then dragged himself under the sheets of his bed.

~ ~ ~

It was seven o'clock in the morning when Harry awoke, and the sunlight was streaming in through the two windows of the dorm. Picking himself off the bed, he showered, dressed and headed down for breakfast, leaving Neville alone in the dorm to sleep in.  
Hermione was at the table, saving places for Ron and Harry when he arrived. "Where's Ron?" Harry asked, sitting down next to her. The rest had done him good, and he felt much better than the previous night.  
"He's over at the sign-up sheets." Hermione informed him, nodding in the direction of the posters. "There's new ones up for Quidditch try-outs. The heads of houses posted them this morning."  
Harry glanced over. A small crowd of chattering second-years, with a few elder pupils scattered here and there, were gathered round the wall. Ron emerged from the group, grinning broadly as he fought his way past a pair of seventh years.  
"I did it!" he announced proudly as he reached the pair. "I signed up for Quidditch try-outs as a keeper."  
"No-one mentioned try-outs to me." Harry frowned as he reached for a plate of sausages. "When are they?"  
"This afternoon, although it's only for Slytherin and Ravenclaw, though. Plus, only the heads of houses choose, so you don't have to go."  
Hermione's head shot up. "The _heads_ choose? I thought the teams did."  
Ron stifled a grin. "Yeah, well. It's all because of Malfoy, isn't it? They know the teams can be bought with money instead of skill, so they've given the jobs to the teachers."  
"Pity. I was hoping to help choose." Harry sighed. Ron rushed in. "Never mind. Tomorrow's the first Quidditch match - Slytherin versus Ravenclaw." He chewed thoughtfully on a bit of bacon. "Is it me, or does this bacon taste funny?"  
Hermione and Harry looked at him questioningly, and Ron amended, "Not. . . weird, really. Just a bit softer than usual. And it has a sort of tang in it."  
Before anyone could reply, his eyes bulged wide, and with a tiny pop, there was a pig sitting in his place.  
A pig with red hair, freckles, and a moustache.  
And then, before Harry could even take this piece of information in, there were loud pops, sizzles, bangs, and flashes of light from around the hall.  
When Harry could see and hear again, a few moments later, the first thing he noticed was that there were an awful lot of animals and multi-coloured people sitting around.  
Then, Professor McGonagall, her face a brilliant red in rage, slowly stood. "Just who," she said, her voice soft and dangerous. "is responsible for this?"  
Everyone's hands, but the trios, went shakily up in the air. 

~ ~ ~

Sorry it took so long to bring out. My muse went on strike, I couldn't get on this PC (*glares at brother and homework*), and I'm trying to run through the chapters of the two other fics I'm writing. _Hopefully_ the next chapter will be up soon, although I can't promise anything, and Quidditch tryouts are coming soon! Never fear, I haven't forgotten the Curses or Duelling Clubs, either.


	11. Chapter 10

THIS IS NOT A SUBLIMINAL MESSAGEreadthekeytotriumphTHIS IS NOT A SUBLIMINAL MESSAGE.

Disclaimer: This is the voice of Chapter 10. We know that you can hear us, Earthmen...  
Why do I bother putting this? It's not like anyone reads it, anyway. Ah, well. I don't own anything you recognise. I own anything you don't, including the (very unique) plot. Thanks to the Red Dragons Order and Confuzzler, my two beta-readers.  
Not much happens in this chapter, but have fun!  
**WARNING:** Do not trust anything that is said in the library in this chapter! Major plot twists ahead!  
  
**New Spell Guide:**  
Mutare Elementa - Change Element  
Predecerus - A take on predecessor  
Transfero Memoria - Transfer Memory  
Destructo Incantatum - Destroy Enchantment  
Vocare - Summon / Call  
Vocare Terra Spiritus - Summon Earth Spirit  
Vocare Cataclysmus Spiritus - Summon Flood Spirit  
Vocare Cataegis Spiritus - Summon Hurricane Spirit  
Vocare Ignis Spiritus - Summon Fire Spirit  
Vocare Fulmen Spiritus - Summon Lightning Spirit

**Chapter 10:  
Of Try-Outs and Training.**

Let him who desires peace, prepare for war.  
~ Vegetius

  
Professor McGonagall, her face a brilliant red in rage, slowly stood. "Just who," she said, her voice soft and dangerous. "is responsible for this?"  
Everyone's hands, but the trios, went shakily up in the air.

~ ~ ~

"So then," Ron explained excitedly to Neville, who had missed the whole escapade, "the story came out."  
"Nearly everyone had bought stuff from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes during the holiday or after school." Dean continued. "And nearly everyone who had was so eager to use it as soon as possible, that they thought they'd slip it into the breakfast foods one way or another."  
Ron took over again. "Of course, no-one knew that everyone else had got the same idea. There's a timed delay on all the WWW products, so that the victims don't suspect anything for a while after eating, so around the same time as each other, everyone turned into whatever prank was in the food they'd eaten. There were loads of people who'd eaten more than one type-"  
"Like Ron." Seamus interrupted. "Ron had a sausage, which someone had put a moustache potion in, and then some bacon, which was actually a Bacon Boar, so he ended up as a moustachioed pig."  
Even Ron had to laugh at this, and he wasn't the only one - the entire common room was in hysterics over the 'accident' at breakfast. Well, excluding Hermione.  
"_I_ don't think it's funny at all." she barked, snapping them all into silence. "Harry and Neville were the only ones who weren't tricked, and that's only because they were late getting down."  
She glared round at them all. "It was highly irresponsible. One or two tricks would be fine, but some of those pranks reacted terribly with each other. Fizzing Whizzbee stings shouldn't be mixed with scarab beetle blood, but someone decided to put two pranks including those in the same Pumpkin Juice container. I heard that Adam Donnelly is in the Hospital Wing with eyes growing out of his ears and tongue!"  
There were a few scattered sniggers, which quickly ended when Hermione gave a scowl reminiscent of Snape.  
"Oh, come on, Herm." Ron said, rolling his eyes. "No-one _knew_ that everyone else was putting stuff in the food, so you can't blame everyone. Besides, you're just mad because you ate a pancake before you knew not to. I think you made a very nice kangaroo, even if it _was_ blue. . ."  
"Ron!" Angelina scolded, trying not to laugh. Ron put on an innocent expression. "Sorry, I shouldn't have said that. After all, I'll make you hopping mad, won't I, Herm'?"  
Even Hermione had to struggle with a grin at that, which Harry was surprised at. It seemed that Hermione had learned to take jokes in her stride, rather than blowing up at them.  
He shifted on the floor, trying to get comfortable. With nearly all the Gryffindors out at one time, the seats had been quickly taken, and most people had been forced to take refuge on the carpet.  
Lessons had been cancelled until the majority of students had been returned to their proper forms, which meant holing up in house towers and staying there until bored.  
Hermione was angry about Transfiguration, but Harry and Ron weren't too bothered about lessons - they had two hours of free time, so they weren't missing anything important.  
Eventually however, they were dragged away when Fred and George were answering questions about their inventions, and over to the portrait hole, where no-one sat.  
"Ron," Hermione hissed, making sure no-one was watching them. "There's something Harry and I have to ask you."  
Harry and Ron looked blankly at each other. "I do?" Harry asked, and Hermione sighed. "Yes, you _do_. Does Ron being a seventh son ring any bells?"  
Now only Ron looked puzzled. "I'm the sixth son, not seventh." he stated. Harry shook his head. "Not according to my Guide. Apparently, you got your Elemental powers from being the seventh son of a seventh son. That means you must have another elder brother."  
Ron gaped for a second, and then shook his head. "No way. Mum would've told me if I'd had another brother. It must have been some other reason that I'm an Elemental."  
"_Only_ seventh children of seventh children have Elemental powers, Ron!" Hermione hissed. "It's the only way you _could_ have control over fire. Look, is your dad a seventh son?"  
Ron nodded slowly. "Yeah, but. . . but that doesn't mean that _I_ am. I mean, Mum or Dad would've told me. Wouldn't they?" He looked desperately round at them, as if asking for reassurance.  
Hermione was quiet. "I think we should say exactly what happened to us last night." she finally said. "We may be able to get some clues."  
By the time the three had finished explaining their night at DEUS, most of the others were drifting off in pairs and small groups to their lessons, too bored of remaining inside the common rooms to continue.  
Harry, Hermione and Ron stayed where they were for a while later, discussing how to find out about the missing brother.   
"There must have been a good reason," Hermione frowned, thinking over the possibilities. "Like you said, your parents should have told you."   
"I think the easiest solution would be to just owl your parents." Harry suggested thoughtfully. "I mean, it's not as though they can refuse, can they? You have a right to know, as much as they do."  
Ron was silent to his friends thoughts a moment longer. Then, he said, "Yeah. Good idea, I'll do that after lunch." His voice was slow and slurred, slightly unbelieving (it seemed to Harry) that this could be happening to him. Harry glanced at his watch. "It's ten twenty-five. We have five minutes to get to our next lessons."  
Ron nodded his head clear. "Yeah. . . right. What have we got?"  
"Double Charms. Hermione?"  
"I have double Potions." Hermione replied. "Save me a place at dinner?"  
Harry quickly agreed, and grabbed his Charms books. "Let's go, Ron." he sighed, as Ron complied.

~ ~ ~

Charms was outside again, as the students found when they entered the Charms classroom. There was a mad rush outside and to Professor Flitwick, who apparently hadn't noticed that they were now nearly ten minutes late.  
"Practical again today, class!" he beamed at the panting group, giving Harry a strange urge to kick him.  
"We'll be using the same spell as last time," Flitwick continued happily, "but we'll be creating earth and air today. So, get your wands out; the words are the same, so you shouldn't have any trouble. We'll be starting with earth first, which should come out something like this."  
He raised his wand, not giving the students a chance to get their breath back, and loudly said, "_Mutare Elementa_."  
The tip of his wand glowed a dark, mottled, green, and the earth and grass in front of him rippled like water for a few feet, finally smoothing over back to its normal self, the grass a little worse for wear.  
There were a few 'ooh's and 'ahh's from the crowd at this one, Harry suitably impressed. Flitwick turned back to the students. "Now, that was, in fact, a lot harder than _creating_ earth; instead, I controlled it. If you take Magical Theory for one of your N.E.W.Ts, you'll see why controlling is harder than creating. Until then, you'll just have to take my word for it.  
"It's your turn to practice now; this one will probably take you a few goes to get right, so begin."  
Harry, noticing everyone already had their wands out, grabbed his own wand from his pocket, and held it aloft. There were less students this time; Hermione, Parvati and Dean were at different lessons, and it should have been Double Charms with the Slytherins; however, it seemed that the Slytherins were spending as long as they could in their common room.  
Willing the earth to move, Harry looked down the top of his wand. "_Mutare Elementa_." he commanded, feeling the earth move behind him, from Ron's spell.  
As Harry finished saying the words, his wand glowed a rich green, dappled with deep browns of a tree bark, and the loamy, murky browns of the earth. The earth in front of him, for nearly ten metres, groaned as it rose and sank, and then forced outwards, gathering speed and height, until it became, not the foot high ripples of Flitwick's spell, but three-foot high mini-tsunamis, racing forwards and crashing against the grass in front, smoothly ending in a great pile of earth and grass about thirty metres in front of Harry - and a long, deep pit, up 'til that point.  
So engrossed and amazed was Harry up 'til the finishing point, he didn't notice Flitwick's clapping, and Ron's knowing grin. Nor did he notice Lavender's excitement, or Neville and Seamus' comments of 'cool'.  
"Bravo! Bravo!" squeaked Flitwick, almost hopping with glee, which Harry was startled by**;** it wasn't every day that a teacher praised you for ruining the lawn. "Excellent work, Harry! You must have been practicing! Twenty points to Gryffindor, for a perfect spell."  
Ron's spell was more powerful than the others', though not as powerful as his fire; he still managed to get his spell over twice as powerful as Flitwick's, which won an extra ten points for Gryffindor (although Lavender's incessant whining about how she could barely get anything lost Gryffindor five points).  
For the rest of the single lesson, Ron and Harry, who were the only ones who had perfected the spell, lounged about, finishing off some homework they had from the last two days. However, the next lesson quickly came, where they learnt the creation of air.  
They stood up again, and watched as Flitwick gave his demonstration. "_Mutare Elementa_!" he cried, the tip of his wand shining a luminescent white. He pointed the wand at one of the bushes a few metres away, and with a rushing screech of cold wind, the bush, adorned with its brilliant green leaves and small, red berries, was blasted back, ripping the leaves and berries and scattering them, the bush itself uprooted by the force.  
"Cool!" Ron muttered, as Harry watched the last few leaves drift to the ground.  
Harry and Ron's tries were, as before, successes. Ron managed to completely uproot not only his bush, but another one that was close by, whilst Harry's spell shot straight through, not only destroying the bush, but a small tree behind it, as well.  
The two earned another thirty points for Gryffindor before the lesson ended, and they headed off to lunch, trying to ignore the fact that Lavender was glaring at them for daring to be better than everyone else.  
In the Great Hall, Hermione was slightly late. When she did arrive, she was in a foul temper, and as soon as she had sat down, she began ranting about Snape.  
"My Fugitic Solution was _perfect_," she fumed, impaling a roll as though it were Snape's head. "The colour, the texture, _everything_, and he accused me of getting it _wrong_! 'It's too runny, Miss Granger', 'Maybe you should learn from Miss Zabini, Miss Granger', 'Do you _know_ how to read a text-book, Miss Granger'!" She slammed some ham on her plate so hard that Harry believed the china would crack.  
"I swear!" Hermione announced, glaring at her ham as she slammed it into the middle of her roll, "I swear, if he gives me another one of those put-downs, he's going to be sneezing worms for a month!"  
Harry grimaced at the thought of Snape sneezing worms into a cauldron during a Potions lesson, and tried with Ron to calm Hermione down. Hermione, however, was having none of it. "He took twenty five points from Gryffindor!" she spat, ignoring the boys, "and you're only meant to take a couple of points at a time during the first week!"  
"Oh, come on, Herm'." Ron consoled, "Do you really think Snape would listen to the rules?"  
Hermione gave a small sigh, and took a bite of her roll. "No, I don't suppose so. But how are we going to get those points back?" At this, Harry looked at her and grinned. "No need to worry about that! We won fifty-five points in Charms because of the Elemental spells, so we're still ahead of Slytherin."  
Hermione was cheered by this, so when they had finished Lunch (with ten minutes left until lessons), she went straight to writing her book, in the Gryffindor Common Room.  
"If this book sells well," she explained to Harry and Ron, who were helping her write the Quidditch teams chapter, "I may write another book, for Muggle-borns. You know, explaining all the things that Wizards come to Hogwarts knowing, like Quidditch, and lessons, transport, communication, Magical terms; that sort of thing."  
"You should have done that earlier." Harry said cheerfully, while Ron only looked mildly interested. "I'm still learning things about the Wizarding world, and I've been a part of it for nearly five years."  
Hermione nodded, pleased to talk about her plans. "Of course, if I do write it, I'll have to write it in a couple of years; otherwise it'll be out-of-date about Alobuffs University."  
She went back to writing, leaving Ron and Harry confused. "Herm'?" Harry ventured, when it appeared that Hermione wasn't going to elaborate. "What's Alobuffs University?"  
Hermione stared at Harry, and then Ron. "Ron!" she scolded in shock, "I'd have thought _you_ would know, at least!"  
Ron shook his head dumbly.  
The girl rolled her eyes. "If you ever actually _read_ anything, you would already know. In '_Worldwide Magical Education and Schooling_' it says that for the past few years, all the major Wizarding countries have joined to create a facility for higher education, for people with especially high N.E.W.T scores. It's been in development for about three years, and it's opening next September." She smiled proudly. "I'm thinking of trying out for a scholarship program there."  
Ron looked more interested now. "Where is it?"  
"In North America, but it's Unplottable." Hermione said, turning back to her manuscript. "And it costs a lot to get in; plus, you can only get the chance to go if they send you a letter. And they only send you a letter if you get more than seven hundred points in the N.E.W.Ts system."  
Harry thought about the University for a second, before frowning. "Isn't seven hundred points a bit of a lot?"  
Hermione didn't look up from her writing. "Well, it is only for particularly high scorers. And it wouldn't be too hard to get a few hundred points if you were doing your N.E.W.Ts at Higher tier."  
Seeing Ron and Harry waiting for an explanation, Hermione continued. "Your score that you get in a N.E.W.T; like ninety percent; is used as your points. All your scores are added up together; but if you take N.E.W.Ts at Higher tier, rather than Intermediate or Foundation, your score is doubled before it's added on. To get seven hundred points, you'd have to take at least four N.E.W.Ts, but since you're only meant to take three, Alobuffs is going to be pretty exclusive. Especially with a yearly fee of three thousand, seven hundred Galleons. Happy now?"  
"Yeah, great." Ron replied with a look of awe on his face. "Three thousand, seven hundred Galleons? I've never even _seen _that much money. . ."  
Harry thought guiltily of his fortune, lying unused in the Gringotts bank vault. He didn't even know how much was in there - probably many times that amount, now that he was co-owner of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes - and he simply took it for granted that it was there, and would remain there. And he didn't even know how much interest he was getting on it!  
"Well, for all we know, it could be rubbish." Harry said quickly, changing the subject as fast as he could. "How's the book coming along, Herm'?"  
"Well." Hermione informed him, crossing something out. "Right on schedule, for the moment."  
Within the next few minutes, Hermione had finished writing the last of the Quidditch chapter, and the three rushed off to their next lesson - Care of Magical Creatures. 

~ ~ ~

Care of Magical Creatures passed without an incident like the last time; although Malfoy sulked around, gazing wistfully at Blizzard (his old Wyvern) and making snide comments about Blur, Prankster, Florence and Nadom.  
There was some excitement at one of the Panama Lap Wyverns, who'd lain two tiny, pale yellow eggs with light blue specks, just the night before. As Hagrid pointed out, Panama Lap Wyvern eggs were just pale yellow, which meant the mother must have interbred with one of the other two species in the pen; although which type was uncertain until the eggs hatched, in a couple of months or so. The mother and her eggs had been taken out and put in a separate, specially warmed pen, in case one of the Wyverns damaged the eggs.  
Apart from this, however, nothing particularly interesting happened. Instead, the students played with, and took notes on their Wyverns' behaviours, and wrote about other types of Wyverns, such as the Vietnamese Venomfang, Canadian Longneck and the Arctic Diamondscale.  
History of magic was where Harry and Ron caught up on much needed sleep. Hermione listened dutifully, scribbling comments in her book and prodding the boys awake whenever Professor Binns looked their way.  
Finally, it was six thirty, and the lessons ended.  
Ron nudged Harry, who was packing his books. "Are you coming to watch the Slytherin and Ravenclaw try-outs?"  
Confused, Harry tried to work out what Ron was talking about. Then he remembered; the Quidditch try-outs, on the pitch.  
"Yeah, hang on." he said, slinging his bag over his shoulder. "Shall we drop our bags off?"  
Ron shrugged. "I'm taking mine with me. Coming, Hermione?"  
Hermione declined, preferring to get her COMC homework done, and write the Quidditch chapter of her book up in neat, so Harry and Ron rushed outside to the stands. They weren't the only ones there; Slytherins and Ravenclaws were, of course, watching, but a few Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs had turned up as well. Professors Snape and Flitwick, the two heads of house, stood down by Madame Hooch, who was checking the balls and brooms for hexes.  
"This ought to be good." Ron told his friend, pulling a slightly squashed chocolate frog out of his pocket, and unwrapping it. "I heard that Crabbe and Goyle are trying out for the reserve Beater position, even though there's only one space going."  
"It'll be funny enough just seeing them on a broomstick." Harry laughed, imagining the thick-headed brutes flying jerkily around on a Shooting Star.  
Finally, Madame Hooch signalled that the equipment was working perfectly, and the students came from the changing room entrance, heading to where Madame Hooch and the teachers were.  
The flying instructor was saying something - though Harry couldn't hear what it was from where he was sitting - when Lee Jordan's voice came from the commentating booth.  
"And here's the Slytherins and Ravenclaws, now! First will be the tests for the Slytherin Chasers; there's two places going on that - then the Ravenclaw Chaser, there's one position going; then Slytherin Beater, Ravenclaw Beater, and then Slytherin Keeper. Slytherin also needs a Captain, since the last Captain Flint left Hogwarts last year. Ravenclaw Captain is Cho Chang, the Seeker."  
There was half a minute of clapping at this, though most people were eager to get to the proper try-outs.  
Looking down at the pitch, Harry saw that the people trying out for Slytherin Chaser - about five of them - were ready on their brooms.  
Lee announced their names and years quickly, and then declared, "The test for the Chasers will be of aim and dexterity! All they have to do is score as many points as possible, without the Ravenclaw Keeper - that's Andrew Cliff, thanks for volunteering, Cliff - blocking you, and without being hit by the Bludgers. You have five minutes, so _go!_"  
Within a couple of seconds, the Chasers shot off, a burly fifth year in possession. The ball switched hands very few times before it reached the posts, where Andrew Cliff waited, hovering just above the hoops.  
Although it would have been easy for the five Chaser to shoot and score with just Andrew, the two Bludgers made it much more difficult - every few seconds, the Bludgers, having no-one but the Chasers to go after, shot straight at someone, forcing the group to scatter or dodge, sometimes flying all the way to the other end of the pitch to lose them.  
After three minutes, just nine goal attempts had been made, three of which were blocked by the Keeper, and one which had fallen short and drifted to the ground, the charm on it stopping it from falling too fast.  
Two minutes later, another two goals had been scored, making the total seven successes and five failures.  
Two of the hopefuls seemed to have absolutely no talent for the Chaser position, and every shoot made by them was blocked or fell short. Another was quite good, but not enough so for the team, whilst the other two had obviously trained hard to get the position.  
They were called back a moment before one of them could shoot, and they made their way to the stands to wait for the results.  
There were six people trying out for Ravenclaw Chaser position, and they too were given five minutes. Lee announced their names and years, and Madame Hooch blew her whistle to signal them off.  
One small girl shot ahead of the others, slightly jerkily, and then regained control, catching the Quaffle from an elder boy and passing it to the next Chaser.   
They reached the posts within a quarter of a minute, and managed to score almost immediately. The rest of their turn progressed smoothly - Andrew Cliff blocked just three times, and by the end of the five minutes, the Chasers had scored nine times, four of which had been the second year girl who had sped forward at the beginning.  
Harry mainly switched off for the rest of the try-outs, waking up only to the shouts as a Bludger smashed into one of the Ravenclaw's face, resulting in a cracked skull and a broken jaw, and to cheers from the Slytherins halfway through, when Malfoy was -  
_VOTED AS CAPTAIN!?__  
_"_What_?!" yelped Harry, sitting bolt upright. "Are they joking? I thought they weren't going to let people buy their way into positions! Are they insane?!"  
Ron, not stopping glaring daggers at Malfoy, said coldly, "The teachers choose the players, but the team chooses the captain. Malfoy probably just bribed or blackmailed them into voting for him."  
"I know, but I don't care." Harry groaned, slumping into his seat. "The teachers should choose the captains too."  
"Yeah, well, what're you going to do." Ron sighed, shrugging as he opened another Chocolate Frog. He pulled out the card first, and glanced at it. "Hey, look! They've brought out a new set!"  
Harry peered at the card, which showed a smiling, waving witch. "Gwendolyn Gwestepucchi? Isn't that the witch that turned into a Fwooper?"  
"That's right," said Ron happily, turning the card over. "Here, look what it says on the back;  
'_Number 12 of the new series of _Famous Firsts_. ____Gwendolyn Gwestepucchi, 1802 - 1907. The first witch to become an Animagus. (Fwooper)_'."  
"Cool!" Harry exclaimed, impressed. "Have you got any more of that batch?"  
Ron nodded happily. "Loads. I'd run out of Chocolate Frogs, so I bought about ten in Hogsmeade. I'll have to open them when we get back to the dorm."  
"Pig." grinned Harry, turning back to the try-outs. "When are the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor try-outs?"  
"Friday afternoon." Ron replied, tucking the card into his pocket. "Bit of a bugger, isn't it? Angelina and Katie leaving, I mean. Nearly the whole Gryffindor team will be pretty new by next year."  
"Yeah." Harry sighed, wondering how they were going to manage. "I think Katie's dad got a job in America, so Katie's transferred to the Salem Witches Institute - that's what I'd heard, anyway. I don't know about Angelina, though."  
His friend shrugged. "_I_ heard Angelina doing some kind of early Auror course. It's pretty rare to do one so early though, so I dunno whether it's just a rumour. Wow, look at that dive!"  
One of the Ravenclaws (trying out for Beater position) executed a fancy, spiralling descent, nearly crashing into the ground, to dodge a rather over-excited Slytherin Beater. He rose out of the corkscrew plunge just in time, visibly shaken.  
"I heard the Salem Witches Institute is pretty good." Ron said, deciding to start a conversation. "Of course, it's bloody expensive - being a private school, rather than a State one. And it's all girls, as well."  
"I guessed that from the name of it." replied Harry sarcastically, watching the players. "I just don't know how we're going to replace everyone. We need a Keeper and two Chasers, and next year we'll need two Beaters and another Chaser. I'll be the only original member left." he finished gloomily, as the Beaters were called in, and Madame Hooch collected the papers from Snape and Fliwick, hurrying towards the commentating booth.  
"And here are the results!" Lee's magically enhanced voice boomed. "For the Slytherins; the new Captain is Draco Malfoy, fifth year. The new Slytherin Chasers are Loren Rudlight, third year and Derek Tauten, sixth year. Slytherin Beater is William Dervish, seventh year, and the Keeper is Jason Fletchley, sixth year."  
There were cheers from the Slytherins as the announcement was made, with Crabbe and Goyle looking around as if stunned that they weren't chosen. Personally, Harry wasn't surprised.  
"For the Ravenclaws, the selected Chaser is Milly Harrow, second year. The Beater is Lewis Boatel, fifth year, and the Captain is still Cho Chang. This is Red Leader, over and out, you Quidditch nuts."  
Brief confusion from the Wizard-borns followed the last comment, before the students were shooed back to school by the teachers for a late dinner.

~ ~ ~

"How was it?" Hermione asked when they returned to the common room.  
"Brill." was all Ron said, as he threw himself into an armchair. "You don't know _what_ you were missing, Herm'. You see, some Venomous Tentaculas had escaped from one of the Greenhouses and made it to the Quidditch field. Death and mayhem everywhere! Blood all over the place!" He shook his head ruefully. "We managed to escape, but we had to sacrifice Snape. A tragedy that will undoubtedly go down in history."  
"Quite." Hermione drawled, rolling her eyes. "Anyway, I've had an idea. Did you write to your parents, Ron?"  
The answer was obviously 'no' as Ron clapped his hand to his forehead and groaned. "I completely forgot!"  
"Good," said Hermione simply, earning her a pair of stares. "because I've found something." Harry carefully took a step backwards. He knew that bright glitter in Hermione's eye, which meant 'I'm-very-clever-and-what-I'm-going-to-say-will-solve-all-your-problems'.  
Hermione nodded. "While you were at the try-outs, I checked as many of the old school files as I could. I told Professor McGonagall I was doing a bit of extra work for History, and she let me look at the Verification Book. That's the book that senses whenever someone is born with magic power high enough to join Hogwarts.  
"Anyway, I looked up any Weasleys who were born in the past thirty years, and you won't believe what I found."  
Harry and Ron leant closer. "What did you find?"  
Hermione sat back in her chair, struggling with a grin. "Oh, you don't really want to know." she said airily, waving a hand.  
"Yes, we do!" Ron begged, drawing even closer. "Please?"  
Hermione closed her eyes lazily. "You're just pretending. You don't really care."  
Ron scowled suddenly. "Look, just tell me what the heck you found, okay? This is my family you're talking about, and I don't have time for fun and games."  
Hermione and Harry blinked. "O - okay." she stuttered, "Anyway. The first person I found was Charlie, and then William - Bill - a while later. But between Bill and Percy, I found another Weasley. Just three years after Bill, Phillip Jacob Weasley was born." She smiled proudly. "What do you think of that?"  
"Great, Herm'!" Ron said, looking proud of having a friend like her. "Phillip Jacob Weasley?"  
Hermione nodded. "He'd be somewhere over twenty one, now." she explained, "So he must have finished Hogwarts. What I can't understand is why your parents never told you - and whether Bill, Charlie or Percy remember him."  
After discussing this and trading theories on everything from him joining the Death Eaters to being given up for adoption, the three switched topics onto finding the Predecerus Incantation.  
"I was thinking," Hermione offered, "that if we could learn a Finding Spell, we could use it to find the book. Of course, we'd have to sneak into the restricted section first; probably at night?"  
Ron snapped his fingers. "If we have any free time tonight, how about we check in the DEUS library? There must be a million books in there, and at least _one _of them has to have a Finding Spell."  
"Good idea." Harry agreed, "Herm', you're better at searching for things. Will you look for it?"  
"_Or_ we could just look up the Predecerus Incantation in the DEUS library, rather than in the Hogwarts library." Hermione pointed out calmly.  
Harry and Ron were silent. "Yeah. . ." Harry amended finally. "Or we could do that."

~ ~ ~

Dragging himself up to his room half an hour later, Harry reflected that the day had been reasonably better than usual; he hadn't been grievously injured, Malfoy had ceased making scathing remarks (and was wandering off into the forest and using pre-arranged Port-Keys to take him to an unidentified place) and Snape hadn't turned up and taken ten points off Gryffindor for blinking too often.  
Entering the dormitory with Ron, Harry stared in surprise at Neville who was sitting on his respective bed, fervently reading a large letter. Receiving a questioning look from Ron, Harry shrugged and closed the door.  
"Who's that from, Neville?" Harry asked loudly. In reply, Neville gave a frightened squeak and threw the letter out of their sight. "N- nothing!" Neville whimpered, as Harry noticed that he also had his wand out.  
"Right." Ron drawled, flinging himself onto his bed. "You just get back to reading your non-existent letter, then."

~ ~ ~

Twelve o'clock. Midnight. The Witching Hour. The time that Harry had set his clock to, which woke him and nearly gave him a heart-attack. Giving a yelp, Harry shot bolt upright. Ron and the others stirred in their sleep, Seamus giving a suspicious mutter about 'add powdered root of asphodel. . .'  
Slamming the alarm clock as quickly as he could to end its ringing, Harry threw his covers back and got up, shoving Ron.  
"Wake up!" he hissed, pushing the red-head again, who blinked sleepily. "Is't 'ime?" he muttered tiredly, pushing his own bed covers back with a lot less enthusiasm.  
Harry was already throwing some of his Muggle clothes on (which Hermione had finally agreed to magically shrink) and grabbing the bag of Floo Powder. "Get dressed and _hurry_!" he whispered loudly. "We haven't got much time!"  
He rushed down the spiral staircase, leaving Ron to grab his clothes, and into the Common Room where Hermione was waiting, her features alternating dark and light in front of the crackling fire. "Why weren't you down here already?" she asked annoyed as Ron finally came down. "Why didn't you set your clocks for quarter to twelve, like me?"  
"Sorry, Miss Genius." Ron grumbled, earning a glare that was barely seen in the mostly-dark of the room.  
"You hardly have to be a genius to think of _that_." Hermione sniffed. "Have you got the Floo Powder?"  
Harry held the bag up in reply, and Hermione nodded. "I'll go first this time." Harry told them, opening the bag and taking a pinch of the white powder.  
Noting that it had stopped glowing, Harry tossed the dust-like residue into the flames. They shot up higher, like before, and turned a brilliant green; Harry stepped in and stated, "Vocare Room."  
The smooth, tunnelling sensation, and the writhing colours were now familiar to Harry, who felt and watched them, without surprise nor fear.  
Some seconds later, the short trip was over, and Harry arrived in the Summoners' Normal Transport Room, where Rain awaited him.  
The sudden white was a shock after the dark of Gryffindor Tower, so Harry took a moment to regain his bearings before stepping off the Trans-Ring and down to Rain, who stood, looking unusually cheerful, by the door.  
"You'll be having fun today!" she grinned, winking at Harry and reminding him of Gilderoy Lockhart. "Today you'll be meeting the other Summoner Apprentices - and a few Sorcerers too, probably. It'll be your first lesson today - learning a few Summonings and the like."  
Harry took a moment to work out what she was talking about, before he remembered; if he was training to become a Summoner, he would have to _learn_ something _about_ it. "Where is it?" he asked, stifling a yawn with his hand.  
Rain motioned to the door. "I'm your Guide - it's my job to take you there. Just follow me. Open!" The door did so, sliding smoothly up, and Rain started out, Harry quickly running to catch up. "I thought I wouldn't be starting training for a week or so?"  
Rain shook her head, and they sped up walking down the corridor. "No. You're going to be learning a lot of Summonings and fighting, so it's best to start teaching as soon as possible. You'll start with learning some basic Summonings first - if it will help you know how to use them, you'll probably learn the theory behind it as well -"  
"Theory behind it?"  
"Every type of magic has a theory behind it's workings." the woman explained as they turned a corner. "As does each specific Summoning. For example, in your world, your 'magic' mainly comes from genetically passed on abilities. However, each spell harnesses, controls and uses that power differently to create different effects.  
"Anyway, after basic Summonings, you'll move on to Spirit Forms and how to talk to and Summon your Spirit Guide. Then you'll move on to two different types of weapons of your choice; melee and long range; at the same time, you'll learn harder Summonings. The weapons training will carry on until you become a full Mage. Got it?"  
"I'm pretty sure I have." Harry frowned, running through what she had said. Was it even possible to speak that fast without taking a breath? "How many other Summoner Apprentices are there?" he asked inquisitively. "And who's going to train me?"  
"There're five others, apart from you, and Godric will be training you in Summoning." she replied. "Who trains you in weapons depends upon which weapons you choose. Here you are. You go in; I'm going back to my own Plane, I've already been here a few hours." she finished, finally coming to a halt at door, identical to all the others. The plaque on it read;

**S.V: Apprentice Training Room**

"Nice." muttered Harry, before uttering, "Thanks Rain, see you. Open!" The entrance obeyed, allowing Harry to pass through. He walked in and looked about. His first glance told him that the room was slightly smaller than the Great Hall at Hogwarts, and decorated with white walls, ceiling and floor, and dark red mats stretched out across the length. It was brightly lit by the ever-present but never-seen lighting.  
With the second glance, he saw that there was another door over on the other side of the room, and that there was a small group of people standing up against one of the walls and talking.  
One, Harry saw as he looked closer, was a Human girl - or looked like one anyway, the second was another Human, this time a boy, and the third was a pale looking girl with long red hair. As she laughed at something one of the others said, Harry caught sight of brilliant, pointed fangs in her mouth. She was a Vampire.  
Gathering his Gryffindor courage, Harry headed over to them. "Hi." '_Brilliant way to start a conversation, Genius!_' he groaned inwardly. '_Hi. Gee, what a great grasp of words you have._'  
The group seemed to think that was true though, as they moved aside to let him join their cluster. "Hi. Are you new here, too?" the Human girl said cheerfully, tossing her short crop of hair. Now that Harry was close enough, he saw that it wasn't black as he had thought, but a dark shade of green, which fit well with her dark brown skin.  
"Yeah. I'm Harry." he said, the familiar nervous feeling rising from the pit of his stomach. Whether it was Hogwarts or a secret inter-dimensional organisation; meeting new people was, and always would be, meeting new people.  
"I'm Ellie, a Dryad." the girl smiled, "And don't mind me, but I'm really optimistic and talkative, so I might be a bit annoying. That's what everyone tells me anyway, so I suppose I am. Personally, I don't find me annoying, but I don't know whether that's possible, to find yourself annoying I mean, so I probably wouldn't, would I? Of course, it might be pos-"  
"Ignore her." the other girl - the Vampire butted in, glaring at the Dryad. "I'm Sinead. That's pronounced 'Sha-nade', and everyone I've met has pronounced it wrong, so please try not to."  
"My name's Rumoq." the boy offered. "And I'm just a Human. And who did you say you were?"  
The nervous feeling started to fade. It sounded like there weren't any Draco Malfoys in this group. "Harry. I'm a Human as well." he informed them as he relaxed. "Where're the other people?"  
"Not here yet. I met them yesterday in the Apprentice Room, though." Sinead said unhurriedly, her black irises focusing on him. "There's another Human-like one; except he's got some fur - Perrit, and there's a Diatt called Thyme."  
Ellie clapped her hands together. "Ooh! I saw him, he looked like a Centaur with wings!"  
"What's a Cent-" Rumoq began, when the door slid open and a Humanoid boy walked in - it must be Perrit, Harry decided, for though he had normal dirty-blonde hair, he had yellow eyes and pale yellow fur covering his bare arms and forehead.  
Behind him stepped the other, who nearly made Harry gasp; a chestnut Centaur, with a flowing brown tail; but with a pair of magnificent, bright blue wings. "Master Gryffindor said he'll be here in a moment." Thyme announced calmly as the pair advanced to the small group. Perrit turned away at the last minute, and made towards the second door, where he stood sullenly, not looking at the others.  
"Where is he?" Rumoq queried, and Thyme shrugged. "He said he had 'important business'. I heard him talking to someone called Rain just as I left though - he mentioned something about a union of reckoning, so I don't believe it's anything to do with us. He should come in a second."  
Harry perked up as he digested this information; Godric Gryffindor was talking to Rain, and yet Rain had said before Harry left her 'I'm going back to my own Plane'.  
Why had she lied to him? Harry shook his head; of course, she had simply meant she would be returning after speaking to Gryffindor. After all, if she had lied, then whatever reason she had lied _for_, Gryffindor had to be involved in, and he certainly wouldn't be involved in anything. . . _bad_. After all, Godric Gryffindor was the epitome of light and valour.  
And yet, Harry couldn't help but remember the expression on Rain's face the day before; cold and brutal. Before he could contemplate it any more, the second door open and the brown haired man called Godric Gryffindor waltzed in with a loud fanfare, waving at the group.  
"He knows how to make an entrance," Ellie laughed while Sinéad rolled her eyes. Thyme just looked confused. "Forget the entrance, how'd he get through _that_ door? He was over in the corridor _behind_ us!"  
"Apparition?" Harry suggested, amused, as Godric made his way in front of the Apprentices.  
"Congratulations, ladies and gentlemen," he smiled brilliantly, "in making it into the highly select group of Summoners! Of course, you had no choice in whether you would be born with the Summoning ability or not, so I shouldn't really be congratulating you. However, I frankly don't care about that, so well done anyway." He cleared his throat and raised his voice. "I, in case you weren't told, am the Master of the Society of the Vocarine, and all the Summoners, Godric Gryffindor.  
"You _should_ call me 'Master Gryffindor' as a sign of respect, but I don't care about that either, so just call me Godric. You'll also learn that I don't care about many things. So!" he beamed, and clapped his hands together, "Today I'll teach you a few simple Summonings. First of all, I'll teach you how to call something that's already there to you; in other words, if it's close enough to you and you Summon it, it'll disappear and reappear in your hand or by your side. Everyone understand?"  
Harry nodded, along with everyone else. It sounded like a wandless 'Accio' of a kind.  
Godric was silent for a second, gazing at an empty space by one of the walls, but as the Apprentices looked to him, the wall, and back again, wondering what he was doing, a pile of stones, rocks and pebbles cascaded down out of thin air onto the floor.  
Turning back to his students, Godric explained, "You'll be practicing with these. Start off by calling small pebbles to your side, and then work on the bigger ones. Once you're certain you can do that well enough, try calling the smaller ones into your hand, and then work your way up to calling the large ones into your grasp. The incantation is just 'Vocare'. Say it inside your head, not aloud, and focus on which stone you're Summoning and where you want it to go, like this."  
One of the rocks - about twenty centimetres long - vanished from the pile and materialised on the floor just in front of him.  
Just five minutes later, everyone had got the hang of the simple spell, and a pile of stones and rocks lay discarded around them. Harry and Thyme had managed to accomplish the controlling of the Summoning first; Harry guessed it was because he himself came from a long line of Summoners, and that Thyme probably did as well.  
Perrit continued lurking by the wall throughout the practice, and managed to learn the Summoning less than a minute after Harry and Thyme.  
The second Summoning, Godric explained, would be a lot harder. "You handled that one pretty easily, but this one's a lot more complicated." he announced. "You'll be Summoning '_Guardians_'. Can anyone tell me what a Guardian is, or does?"  
"A Guardian is a Spirit that has control of an element, like water, fire, earth or air." Thyme spoke immediately. "You can Summon them to fight for you if you can't control elements yourself."  
"Correct!" The piles of rocks started to move as Godric replied. "I'm afraid the rest of you may take a while to catch up with Thyme's knowledge - he comes from a long line of DEUS members, so he's been taught a bit by his parents." A second later, the rocks merged together, slipping across the floor to the centre of the room and forming a giant boulder which rippled before turning solid.  
"There are five Guardians you can Summon; the incantation for Summoning them is 'Vocare something Spiritus'. For Earth, the middle word is 'Terra', Water is 'Cataclysmus', Fire 'Ignis', Air 'Cataegis' and Lightning 'Fulmen'. For today, we'll just be trying Earth. There are a few basic rules to Summoning Guardians," he continued, pointing towards the boulder.  
"You'll see I merged the smaller ones together to create that overgrown rock there. That's because you can't Summon a Guardian _unless _you have that element there. You can Summon an Air Guardian simply by focusing on the air, but you can't Summon a Water Guardian if you're in the middle of a desert. Everyone understand?"  
Ellie stuck her hand up and waved it about madly, even though she was fairly obvious. "What about lightning?"  
Godric nodded. "Good question. Lightning is caused by electrical build-ups in the air and on the ground, so all you have to do is focus on both air and ground, as well as the words." He grinned again. "Just watch me. . ."

~ ~ ~

Harry watched, exhausted, as first Hermione appeared, and then Ron, out of the Gryffindor fireplace. Dusting herself off, Hermione looked at the figure that was sitting in one of the chairs. "Harry?" she hissed, "What on earth are you doing back so soon?"  
Harry managed a tired smile. "We learnt some pretty hard stuff. Summoning Earth and Air Guardians took it out of us, so we were sent back five minutes early."  
"Lucky bugger." Ron groaned, limping towards the spiral staircase. "We learnt how to make small fires and control them, but we won't be moving on to Fire Guardians until next year."  
Hermione looked interested. "Guardians? That sounds fascinating, you'll have to tell me in the morning. We just learnt how to scry with a mirror." She frowned. "I'm going to have to have some more time to look for the book though."  
Harry rolled his eyes, and followed Ron. "That'll be fine, Herm', we don't need it today. I'm just glad we don't have any copies of us tonight - I don't think I could handle destroying them."  
Within twenty seconds, Harry had collapsed on the bed in his dormitory, and was fast asleep.

~ ~ ~

The morning breakfast was no-where near as eventful as the previous days. Harry had caught Neville reading his letter, the trio went over what they had learnt the previous night, and that was about it.  
"Double Herbology." Ron announced, dunking his spoon into some chicken soup. "Thank God we've finished Gertroot, I'd have died of boredom if we went over it again."  
"Yeah," Harry pointed out gloomily, "but she'll probably have us looking after a new batch of mandrakes."

~ ~ ~

As it turned out, it was much worse than mandrakes. The Venomous Tentacula had popped off about a hundred tiny seed pods during the Summer holiday, and it seemed that about twenty or thirty of them were healthy enough to grow into 'terrifying killing machines with big pointy teeth' as Ron so eloquently put it.  
Harry stared at his tiny terracotta pot with wide eyes as Professor Sprout placed it in front of him. The seedling inside moved it's 'head' up to look at him, and then displayed a wide smile of rather sharp-looking fangs, which Harry personally thought didn't belong on a plant. "Congratulations Potter!" beamed Sprout, clapping him on the shoulder as though he'd achieved something wonderful. "You've got one of the genetic anomalies!"  
'_Freaks._' translated Harry's mind.  
Sprout continued smiling. "Your one's teethed incredibly early! Well done."  
Harry backed away slightly from the demon seedling. '_Well done for what?_' his common sense wailed, while his mouth said, "Delighted, I'm sure."  
"That's the spirit, Potter!" Sprout bubbled, moving on to Hermione, who looked disappointed that the plant she was given wasn't a veritable man-eater.  
"Now, if you'll look under the tables, you'll find a box of spiders." Professor Sprout announced, walking back from Hermione, carrying one last box. "I want you all to take one of the spiders from your box -" (Ron paled) "- and feed it to your Tentacula. Potter, as your one's teethed already, you feed yours a mouse." Thrusting the remaining box into Harry's arms, she trotted away. "Begin!"  
"How hard could it be?" Harry muttered, albeit doubtfully, and set the box down. He pulled back the lid, and the mice inside blinked at the sudden sunlight, and squeaked noisily. This time, it was Harry's turn to pale.  
"Hermione! Help!" he hissed to his neighbour, motioning at the grinning Tentacula, and the _still-living_ mice.  
Hermione glanced away from her docile seedling and into the box. "Oh, Harry." she groaned. "That's barbaric! Not to mention disgusting." Harry rolled his eyes. "Thanks for the help. What do I do? Kill them? Feed them whole and alive?"  
"Alive." Hermione replied, holding up a spider, which tried to wriggle out of her grasp. "They only eat live prey."  
"Crud!" came Ron's voice. "I just killed all of mine. Why didn't you tell us that before, 'Mione?"  
Two hours later, a pale Ron and Harry stumbled out of the greenhouse, along with the other students. "Spiders. Spiders!" Ron sobbed, shaking his hands as though trying to get the taint off them. "You think that was bad?" Harry whispered. "Your one didn't have any teeth. That poor mouse! Still alive, and that plant tore it apart! Ripped its limbs off and spat them back at me! The poor thing was screaming the whole time!"  
"That reminds me, you've got some blood on your face." Hermione said cheerily, which earned her a pair of unbelieving glares. "What?"  
Harry wiped the smear of mouse blood off. "Let's pretend that lesson never happened, okay? So, where shall we go?"  
"I want you to help me become an Animagus." Hermione said, lowering her voice. "I know I won't do it as fast as you, but if my magic's been increased, I should do it faster than usual, and I don't want anyone but you two - and Dumbledore - to know about it. If I ask McGonagall to train me, then she'll know."  
Ron looked at Harry, and then back at the girl. "I dunno, Herm'. I mean, we're not really teachers -"  
"But you can at least _try_." Hermione pleaded, and Ron relented. "Harry?"  
"Fine by me." Harry sighed, realising he wasn't going to get much of a break. "Charms classroom, I suppose." 

~ ~ ~

"Right," Ron encouraged, "now focus on what it would feel like to _be_ the cat-thing."  
"Marbled polecat." Harry corrected, flicking through the Animagus book. "Hey, listen to this;  
_ 'Some powerful witches and wizards have perfected the ability to change into two creatures, rather than the usual one. These are known as 'Multimagi, and throughout history there have only been three. Merl__in, who transformed into a swan and a dragon, Rowena Ravenclaw, who changed into an eagle and a cat, and Salazar Slytherin, who changed into both a snake and a vulture.'_  
"That's very nice, Harry, but I'm trying to concentrate, and I can't do it with you talking." reprimanded Hermione, eyes scrunched closed. Ron peered at the book. "That sounds pretty cool." His eyes widened. "Hey, do you think that with our power, _we_ could become Multimagi'?"  
"Don't be stupid," Hermione said exasperatedly, opening her eyes. "It's hardly _every_ DEUS member that can become a Multimagus, and we're only teenagers. It would take years before we could get enough power."  
"Well, Harry and I became full Animagus' in less than a day." Ron retorted, "So we might have some kind of talent for it."  
Hermione clapped a hand to her mouth. "Of course! Your talent for the Animagus ability - that must be something to do with the DEUS power!"  
Harry frowned. "But it can't be; Merlin's one of the most powerful of DEUS, but he still took longer than us to become an Animagus. It can't be anything to do with that."  
"But that's just it - don't you see?" Hermione gushed, spilling out her realisations. "I asked Lyssa how people get their DEUS powers, and there's different ways. Some powers are inherited, like Harry's, some are formed by being in close company with other DEUS members, like me, and some just happen, like Ron's. But there's another thing; if you have a family member who has a different power to you, you can become better at their ability, as well as yours. Don't you understand?"  
Harry and Ron remained blank.  
"It means," coaxed Hermione, "that there's a probability that someone in your families was a member of DEUS before you - and that they were a Shifter, someone who can change into animal forms. That would explain why you found changing so easy; some of their powers have rubbed off onto you!"  
"Impossible!" Ron stuttered. "None of my family have marks on their hands - and what are the chances that there were Shifters in both Harry's, and mine, families?"  
"Low," admitted Hermione, her eyes gleaming. "But one of you could be a fluke, and the other _could_ have had a Shifter in their family. In their close family, otherwise the power wouldn't have come to you. I can't speak for Harry's family, but in yours, Ron, if none of the others have the mark, then it must be someone who hasn't joined yet. And who in your family hasn't had their fifteenth birthday yet?"  
Harry's mouth finally worked. "You can't mean Ginny!"  
"It makes sense." Hermione nodded. "We can't be certain, but Ginny might be joining DEUS next year."  
Ron turned white as a sheet. "But it would be dangerous for her!"  
"No more dangerous for her than us!" argued Hermione. "I seem to remember you weren't concerned about the danger when _you _decided to join. And besides, I asked Lyssa; we won't be going on anything but training exercises whilst we're Apprentices. It's only when you're a Sorcerer or Sorceress that you start doing the dangerous missions."  
'_Ginny? A Shifter?_' Harry thought to himself, sitting on a desk. It seemed impossible; but then, so did the theory of alternate worlds, so that wasn't much to counter the argument.  
Hermione was back against the wall now, eyes closed again and obviously concentrating on the polecat form.  
"Yeah. . ." Harry heard Ron mutter, "But it's still dangerous for her."  
Harry rolled his eyes and began to study the chapter on Multimagi, deciding he'd have to ask Rain whether there was a way to tell whether someone was a DEUS member or not. He also made a mental note to see whether Summonings could be sensed by the Ministry of Magic. If not, he could have a lot of fun next Summer. . .

~ ~ ~

In the Gryffindor Defence Against Dark Arts lesson, Professor Lupin finished up the lesson about Necromancers and Necroscopes, and outlined the next topic. "Dementors," he announced, causing Harry to wince at the memories of them, "are the creatures that are used to guard Azkaban, and absorb positive feeling from their surroundings, and any people nearby. They can also administer the 'Dementors Kiss', in which hey suck out your soul through your mouth. . ." he continued in a bright, normal voice, completely unsuitable for the subject.  
"- Which is why," he finished five minutes and ten points to Gryffindor later, "we'll be learning how to protect ourselves from them. Only one spell works on them; the Patronus charm. As this is extremely complex magic, I doubt many, if any, of you will be able to create a Patronus by the end of the year.  
"The incantation is '_Expecto Patronum_', but it's much harder than just that. As you say the words, you have to focus on a happy memory. The strength of your Patronum depends on how happy your memory is. If it isn't good enough, you'll only get a wisp of smoke. Yes, Miss Patil?"  
"Please Professor, what's a Patronus?" the girl simpered, to which Hermione scowled.  
"A Patronus is like a shield which repels the Dementor, also it also wards off Lethifolds - we'll be covering them later this year. The Patronus is a silver creature, although the form it takes is unique to the person who conjures it." Lupin explained. "Harry can create one, so if you'll come up and give us a demonstration?"  
Harry froze, and then stood up reluctantly, aware of every eye in the room watching him. "What about a Dementor, Professor?"  
The teacher waved his hand dismissively. "Your Patronus will just run around for a minute without any Dementors around. Don't worry about it."  
Grudgingly, Harry plodded to the front of the classroom, and held his wand up. Concentrating on the memory of seeing his parents in the Mirror of Erised, and of the realisation that his Patronus was Prongs, Harry pointed his wand forwards.  
"_Expecto Patronum!_" he shouted, watching as the mist shot out of his wand. Immediately, he cursed his stupidity; normally that would summon his Patronus - however, he had forgotten to take into account the power increase that he had gained, which had a reaction very much like the spells in Charms.   
Milliseconds later, the room was full of gasps as Harry and the others laid eyes on the results.

~ ~ ~

_Dear Sirius,  
How are things with you? I'm fine here at Hogwarts, and you can't say it hasn't been an interesting week back - even though I haven't even been back for a week yet!  
I'm doing really well in Charms, top of the class, and COMC is great; we've each been given a Wyvern to look after. Herbology isn't so good - we're taking care of seedling Venomous Tentaculas, and my one's already grown inch long teeth, which means I have to feed it mice instead of spiders like everyone else.  
The thing I wanted to ask was whether someone's Patronus has ever changed or become unusual in any way. Remus says he doesn't know, so I was wondering whether you did. You see, I had to cast a Patronus in the lesson, and it was a bit different than usual.__ For a start. . ._

~ ~ ~

And so ends chapter 10. Next chapter will be the Divination lesson, the Charms and Transfiguration lessons (though I won't go into as much detail as that, as nothing much happens. HINT: If I talk about a particular lesson for a long time, it's probably important. Except Herbology, but I felt like adding a 'small cute animal gets violently killed' scene).  
And of course, next chapter will include the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff try-outs, and the Slytherin / Ravenclaw Quidditch match, which is short but sweet. Plus, Harry gets called to Dumbledore's office again, and a rather interesting couple of facts come along.  
Also, an important note: I have four planned sequels to this, so don't think Harry's going to suddenly increase in power a hundred times, turn into a Multimagus and defeat Voldemort. Not yet, anyway. ^_~  
Next, I'm thinking about changing the title to 'Deus Ex Machina', so if you look for Fire, Rain and Rose, and can't find it, look that up instead.  
Finally, about the fic 'The Key to Triumph', co-written by the Red Dragons Order and I; _**IT IS AN A.U!!**_ In the world it's set in, Snape is not an adult, okay? If you don't like that, tough luck. Go read something else, we're not forcing you to read it.  
Now I've finished ranting. Please review! Any flames will be eaten by the Venomous Tentaculas.  
Oh, and who likes kittens?


End file.
